The Clough Undergraduate Learning Common (CULC).

Natural Lighting 

Natural Lighting 

The Natural Lighting group investigates the art and science of incorporating daylighting techniques that enhance indoor built environment experiences. We focus on exploring current daylight metrics through near real-time daylighting simulations to accurately propose solutions for ongoing indoor issues related to visual comfort. The group also expands to investigate techniques that allow proper daylight to promote the health and well-being of individuals by focusing on the non-visual effects of daylight and promoting the entrainment of circadian systems.  

A comparison between HDR images of the south baseline case result and the split system improvement. 

Non-Visual Effects of Daylight on Vulnerable Populations

A Framework to Simulate the Non-Visual Effects of Daylight on the Cognitive Health of Elderly Individuals 

This research aims to understand the effect of daylight on cognitive health in general, and elderly and dementia individuals specifically. It then focuses on identifying daylighting metrics that entrain the circadian rhythm and specify appropriate thresholds that adapt to the needs of elderly individuals. In addition, investigations and simulations of current standard nursing homes are run to test their efficiency towards meeting the daylighting needs of elderly individuals for circadian entrainment. 

Detailed illustration of the sequence of the shading systems that were tested for each illustration. 

Evaluating Daylighting Performance Metrics in LEED V.4

LEED adopted the use of spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) and Annual Solar Exposure (ASE) to predict the daylight availability and probability of glare respectively but did not consider that ASE only evaluates disability glare. This research proposes a more comprehensive approach to daylighting performance evaluation in commercial office space that incorporates vertical-eye level glare evaluation, in addition to desk-level Climate Based Daylighting Metrics (CBDM). 

People

Nourhan El Sayed's headshot

Nourhan El Sayed 

M.S. Student
Riwayat Katia's headshot

Riwayat Katia 

Undergraduate Student
Tarek Rakha's headshot

Tarek Rakha

Ph.D., Assistant Professor

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