Daylighting of Atria in Singapore

Abstract

In designing an optimal atrium in terms of daylight, both its internal and external environments are crucial to determine the quality and quantity of natural light entering the space. The former comprises of the atrium designs, while the latter refers to the ever-changing sky distributions. The study has verified the point that the sky distributions in Singapore could bring large impact to the overall daylight availability and energy savings, varying from 11% to 50%. If this exterior factor is supplemented with a carefully designed atrium, inclusive of all its design parameters such as atrium form, floor depth, skylight shape, glass material, as well as reflectivity of walls or floor, the ultimate building efficiency would be magnificent. The findings show that good atrium design with the consideration of all these parameters will help to save the annual energy cost of more than SGD5 per square meter floor area from lighting alone.