For 48-692: Shaping Daylight
By Afshan Rehman and Amulya Surapaneni
The intent of this project was to understand how two similar spaces can be designed in such a way that the façade brings in the same amount of light but qualitatively gives a different vibe.
To check this hypothesis a south facing façade for two rooms of the same size was given two distinct patterns. The location was taken as New Delhi, India.
Design Option-1
Design Option-2
Design Option-1 was appropriated from native Indo-Islamic 'Jaali' patterns (you can read more about them here). Design Option-2 was a random voronoi pattern. Both the patterns were parametrically generated on Grasshopper and then baked into Rhino Geometry.
Jaali Maker on Grasshopper
Voronoi Maker on Grasshopper
To determine the quantity of light, sDA (Spatial Daylight Autonomy) was calculated using DIVA for Grasshopper and the design was parametrically altered till similar sDA levels were reached for both the patterns.
Final Design Option-1 (sDA = 73%)
Final Design Option-2 (sDA = 75%)
Brep-1 – Floor
Brep-2 – Window and envelope
Scene – Ground Plane & Trees
Grid Spacing – 0.2
Occupancy – 8am – 6pm (with Daylight Saving)
sDA, Under-lit areas and Over-lit areas for both the Design Options
Because of the alluring shadows the patterns create, and the diverse ways in which the lux values vary across the floor, the two rooms with similar light levels emit completely different qualitative emotions.
In a classroom discussion, each Design Option was associated with a certain adjectives.
Design Option-1
Spiritual, Divine, Powerful
Spiritual, Divine, Powerful
Design Option-2
Pleasant, Calming, Amiable
Pleasant, Calming, Amiable
Render of Design Option-1
Render of Design Option-2