Building Physics

Introduction to architectural science

Lecture 3
Prepared by:
Dr. Yahia Elbashar

Dr. Yahia Elbashar

12 lectures
100 marks
20 HW and attendance
20 Midterm
60 final

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Course Contents

Light: The Luminous Environment

Sound: The Sonic Environment
----------------Heat: the thermal environment
Resources: Energy use in buildings

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Light: The Luminous Environment

Physics of light
Vision
Daylight and sunlight
Design methods
Electric lighting

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Transmission of light

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Dr. Yahia Elbashar

Dr. Yahia Elbashar

VISION

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Visual performance
The contrast sensitivity of the eye is very good in good
lighting.
In full daylight a luminance difference between
surfaces as little as 1% can be distinguished, but under
poor lighting conditions surfaces with up to 10%
luminance difference may be perceived as equal.
Visual performance is a function of time required to see
an object, or of the number of items (e.g. characters)
perceived in unit time.
The time required to perform a certain visual task
decreases (i.e. the performance increases) with the
increase of illuminance
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Lighting requirements
The adequacy of lighting is a quantitative
requirement, which depends on the visual task:
the contrast, the fineness of detail and the speed
at which the view changes.
To set the required lighting level the risk of
possible errors must be judged and balanced
against the affordability of lighting.
As visual efficiency of people reduces with age, it
is advisable to provide better illuminance for
older people.
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suitability of lighting

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DAYLIGHT AND SUNLIGHT

Light outdoors is generally referred to as natural light.
It has two main components: that arriving directly from
the sun is referred to as sunlight ( or beam sunlight ).
Varying fractions of this are diffused by the
atmosphere, e.g. by clouds, which is referred to as
daylight. (Some authors refer to the latter as skylight ,
but in general usage, also adopted here, skylight means
a roof window.)
The term daylight, in a loose sense is often used for
both, but in technical language (also used here) it
means only the diffused light arriving from the sky
hemisphere.
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DESIGN METHODS
Daylight may be introduced into a building
using a variety of techniques, side-lighting or
top-lighting strategies.
Integration of daylighting with building design
can have a decisive influence on the
architectural form.
In daylighting design, for the positioning and
sizing of apertures, there are three main
issues to be considered:
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1. to satisfy the visual tasks (provide enough

daylight)
2. to create the desired mood and provide
visual focus
3. to integrate daylighting with the architecture.

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References
Introduction to Architectural Science, Steven
V. Szokolay, Routledge, 2008

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