Daylighting Design by Daylight Metrics and Reflectivity of Surfaces, the Case of Libraries

Libraries as an indispensable part of education require great physical environments to address users' needs and expectations. Daylight as a visual sensory element of libraries affects the design of libraries with the main activities of reading and writing. A good visibility on those tasks is acquired by the presence of adequate, uniform and bright light without glare which means daylight metrics including daylight factor, illuminance and luminance, distribution and uniformity, brightness, avoidance of glare and intensive sunlight. Besides presenting quantitative ranges for each metric in libraries, some recommendations are provided, most of which are closely connected to reflectivity of surfaces. As a result, some materials are suggested to respond to the requirements of the library. In fact, daylight metrics plus reflectivity of surfaces are acknowledged as issues affecting daylight design of libraries.

Keywords:

Daylight Metrics , Daylighting Design , Library , Reflectivity of Surfaces