Study of Optimal Area of Atrium for Daylight Utilization (Case Study: Administrative Building in Qazvin, Iran)

Atrium is a popular architectural feature utilized widely by building designers and owners to bring various benefits such as adequate daylight, circulation spaces and surfaces for landscape applications. But atrium problems in tropical climates such as excessive daylight, glare and high temperature, which lead to increase building energy demand, have been reported. Atrium has been used with various shapes and purposes in many different climates and buildings especially public ones. It is mainly used to take advantage of daylight in buildings. Therefore, achieving the optimal atrium dimensions is of great importance. This research employed computer simulation using Ecotect and Radiance for daylighting. The collected database is created using simulations for different atrium proportions in IRAN-Qazvin climate zone, where using atria could improve building performance based on the clear sky condition. This research aimed to investigate various atrium models with the purpose of achieving optimal daylight. Note that a combination of factors contributes to calculation and reception of the optimal model including climate, use, and optimal daylight reception. Qazvin climatic conditions were simulated in Ecotect and Radiance. Ten 5-story administrative buildings with atrium ranging from 5%-50% area and one without atrium were modeled. The results showed that optimal samples were buildings with 10% and 15% atrium area in terms of daylight utilization.