Evaluating the Effectiveness of Daylight Performance Metrics in Predicting Visual Comfort Case Study: Educational Architecture Design Studios in Tehran

It is essential to ensure that adequate daylight penetrates in, especially, educational environments. In spite of positive significant impacts of daylight on the emotions, concentration, and learning of students, an exceeded amount of light will lead to glare and visual dissatisfaction. Over the last few years, with the help of simulation tools and lighting indices, it is possible to predict lighting quality and assess the visual comfort of occupants. This research aims at determining the accuracy of daylight metrics in scholastic environments. To achieve this, the daylight performance of twenty studio spaces in Tehran was investigated through: 1) simulation and calculation of daylight and glare metrics; 2) design and analysis of a questionnaire to determine the degree of satisfaction of students. The outcomes of both methods were compared. The results show that among the metrics for predicting the amount of light, there is a stronger correlation between respondents’ perception and EP>n lx (nϵ[100-300]). The correlation decreases with EP-LEED, sDA, and UDI respectively, while no significant correlation is observed between glare metrics and respondents’ perception. According to the results, UDI300-3000,50%>75% and ASE1000lx,250h<10% are appropriate criteria for predicting visual comfort regarding lighting and disturbing glare.