Let the Light in. Using LiDAR- and Photogrammetry-based BIM Reconstruction to Simulate Daylighting in the House of Trebius Valens, Pompeii

From ancient authors, such as Vitruvius, we know that the Romans considered lighting and especially daylighting an important factor in designing buildings. Instead of windows, which were usually few and small, a typical Roman house would get most of its daylight from an atrium and a peristyle that were open to the sky in the middle. Quantity of light would determine what kind of action was possible inside and at which hours, in addition to the general experience of space for the individual. Pompeii offers many well-preserved remains of actual houses that allow for attempts to reconstruct this phenomenon. Here a reconstruction and daylighting simulations of the house of Trebius Valens in Pompeii are presented. The reconstructions, done using Autodesk Revit, are based on LiDAR and photogrammetric documentation of the building. The lighting simulations were performed using Light Stanza addon. By assessing hourly alteration in lighting in different spaces, it is possible to visualize the daylighting schedule of the house. Through careful inspection of the results, this article paints a picture of a Roman house’s constructed relationship with natural light.