Universities are at the front line of promoting sustainability. The wellbeing of its students plays a key role in advancing such agendas. In the past decade, many university classrooms have been equipped with a projector; however, the lighting design of the classroom remains unchanged. This paper presents a visual comfort study of modern university classrooms by considering three working surfaces: the student’s desk, whiteboard, and projector screen. The study cross-examines the quality of the classroom lighting by high dynamic range image (HDRi) photography and the students’ well-being from user satisfaction surveys. Comparisons are organized based on the seating area of the student, the type of learning (text-based or image-based) in the classroom, and the lighting scene with and without a projector in use. The spot illuminance, luminance, HDRi spatial luminance distribution and the Unified Glare Rating (UGR) are the parameters used to describe lighting quality. This paper found that more than 70% of the respondents experienced some adverse physical symptoms, and nearly 50% felt that the lighting condition was not ideal for task performance. UGR indicated the presence of minor glare problems in whiteboard-based teaching scenarios, and daylight was too strong to be utilized. The results suggest that the lighting design needs to involve a luminance distribution minded approach for the students’ wellbeing in classroom learning.
The residential sector is one of the largest energy-consuming sectors in Taiwan. Taiwan applies building codes and appliance standards to reduce the total energy demand for buildings, especially for façade design. Some research studies demonstrate that design decisions regarding the envelope shape have a direct effect on a building’s energy performance. This paper presents a comparative study of four façade design strategies for low-rise residential buildings by combining energy performance and architectural creativity. The research aims to provide insights for Taiwan’s building designers and energy policymakers and to provide an overview of façade standards for residential buildings in urban areas that is not only innovative in design but also has an energy-saving potential. The approach used in this research combined the overhang and side fin shading design with an open plan, which allows for optimum daylight exposure across all spaces in order to reduce energy consumption.
Lighting control systems (LCSs) play important roles in maintaining visual comfort and energy savings in buildings. This paper presents a prototype LCS using LabVIEW with real-time high dynamic range images and a digital multiplex controller to brighten lamps sequentially to provide visual comfort. The prototype is applied to a scaled classroom model with three schemes involving different activities and needs: writing and reading, requiring a uniform luminance of approximately 100 cd/m2, teaching using a whiteboard, requiring an illuminance of approximately 120 cd/m2 for the whiteboard and 60 cd/m2 for the desks, and drawing and art activities focused on the center of the room, requiring an illuminance of approximately 100 cd/m2 for the center area and 50 cd/m2 for the background area. For each scheme, two conditions are presented: one in which the room is treated as a closed room without windows, and the one in which the room has a large window on one wall that enables daylight to penetrate the room. The prototype works well with both schemes and provides different combinations of lamp brightness levels, starting from 10% to 60%, based on the activities and required luminance, and can save around 73–82% of electricity. The presence of daylight does not always result in more energy savings, as the brightness contrast for visual comfort needs to be considered.
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