Investigation of Indoor Daylight Condition of Library Reading Spaces in a Tropical Climate

Reading spaces in the library require proper lighting for the comfort of the users. Good daylight conditions in the library help to improve mood, morale and learning while reducing eyestrain and saving energy. The current study investigated the daylight condition of 12 reading spaces to determine the influence of architectural daylight parameters on the daylight condition. The climate-based daylight modelling (CBDM) approach was used to determine useful daylight illuminance (UDI), daylight autonomy (DA) and total annual illumination (TAI). The study employed the VELUX Daylight Visualiser (VDV) simulation software. The results showed that the mean UDI 300 DA to 500 DA for Hall H was 84% and 69% (pass), TAI was 4,314 kWh and the luminance mean value was 255 cd/m2 (moderate). The daylight parameters collectively influenced this result. However, the ones that influenced the result more were window-floor ratio (WFR), glazing/shading/source of obstruction and wall finish/colour/ceiling finish. Since the daylight conditions of these halls studied met the design threshold, it showed that these design parameter strategies should be adopted when considering a new design of reading spaces in tropical regions.