Simulation of Daylighting Conditions in a Virtual Underground City

Abstract

From the Piranesi fantastic architectures to the animation movies and video games of the last thirty years, a new design approach has been introduced and developed: the design of the virtual space. Designing the "virtual" means experiencing a multidisciplinary approach where architecture, engineering, and urban planning meet the new horizons of information and communication technology. This study is focused on virtual space, which is an underground city. Mankind have always made and used underground environments: the possibilities of unlimited spaces to potential development, the reduced needs for raw materials for the construction and the protection from outdoor weather are some of the reasons that prompted humans to the realization of underground spaces in the past. These reasons and the availability of innovative technologies could encourage a breakthrough in the realization of new underground environments. A recent example is represented by the Underground City of Montreal (RÉSO). We present the architectural design of a virtual underground city, which is called Arch [ane], and its evaluation. The underground city is modular and the studied module is composed of eight floors with a total depth of 400 m and dimensions of 800 m × 800 m. The study comprises the evaluation of the effect of sunlight on each eight floors of the city. Daylighting simulations were performed considering different cities at different latitudes, days, and hours. The results have shown that the particular design of the underground city with skylights gives significant values of illuminance at a certain depth. Furthermore, the simulation results show how huge can be the potentialities of software to simulate extremely big environments.

Freeform microstructure linear light emitter design for a natural light illumination system

“…The linear microstructure can be used in a lobby, hallway, room, and basement [15]. Moreover, it provides a comfortable and healthy illuminative environment.…”

Evaluation of Light Supply in the Public Underground Safe Spaces by Using of Copras-Swara Methods

“…-Xiaobin et al (2014) explore lighting environment in underground architecture. -Alcini et al (2015) wrote about simulation of day-lighting conditions in a virtual underground city. Therefore, the major issue of the research is determination and assessment of variety of the methods of light transmission or light supply in underground safe spaces during the national power failure.…”

Development of Optical Fiber-Based Daylighting System and Its Comparison

“…SolidWorks TM is used to design some mechanical parts. DIALux TM , which is widely used for indoor and outdoor lighting simulation [23,28], is used to show the interior space under lighting simulation.…”