Passive Daylighting

edToolbar()

Passive daylighting is the use of natural daylight for lighting in diverse applications. In contrast to active daylighting

, where mechanical or other active systems track daylight by following the sun, passive systems are non-mechanical, and rely upon building orientation and organization to optimize the use of natural daylight. A south-facing orientation, for example, provides optimal daylight in the northern hemisphere, while a northern orientation is best for the southern hemisphere. Calculations of seasonal sun angles for optimal window and skylight positioning and other similar simple analyses can be undertaken to make passive daylighting as effective as possible. A building complex in Germany increased the amount of natural daylight present in the buildings and decreased the need for electric lighting by adding 5500 m² of skylights, utilizing four bands of 4 m wide skylights with a running length of 170 m. Openings for passive ventilation were also included into the structure to release excess heat energy. The Fraba building, a factory in Germany, used passive daylighting as a guiding design principle.

Numerous skylights in the roof help to light the inside of the factory building by Bel architects. Image by Marc Räder taken from the website www.bel.cx.

edCanvas = document.getElementById(‘content’);