Implementing a Digital Solution for Architectural Daylight Analysis in BIM Based Projects by developing a new plugin

Abstract

To achieve a successful architectural project, it is essential for architects to truly understand and collaborate with other designers and engineers during the whole project. Regarding daylight analysis, what architects decide about the fenestration types, sizes, and their placements, interior layout design, interior or exterior materials, and finally the outer shape of the buildings may change the quantity and quality of natural light in the interiors. Moreover, such decisions about room configurations, fenestration, and materials can also directly or indirectly affect thermal comfort which is needed to be checked and confirmed by energy experts in the project. In this paper, a newly developed digital solution, and a new plugin called AftabRad is introduced. Its main goal is to export the 3D model from the BIM Modeling software to Radiance, as its daylight simulation core, and present the results back to the BIM software. This plugin can help daylight specialists to be fully or partially involved in any projects to assist architects or urban designers to easily calculate different types of static or dynamic daylight metrics by themselves. However, daylight specialists can do daylight calculations in the final stage or the project if it is needed. In such a project, since most of the daylight analyses for different types of alternatives can be done by architects, and regarding the nature of BIM-based project, by having direct dialogs with energy experts, the probability of achieving a well-daylit space, being thermally and visually comfortable, and fulfilling the daylight requirements can be much higher in comparison with doing daylight simulation just at the end of a project.