Evaluation of visual and non-visual effects of daylighting in healthcare patient rooms using climate-based daylight metrics and melanopic metrics

Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

^* corresponding author: englezou.maria@ucy.ac.cy

Abstract

Daylight access in healthcare facilities is essential for creating comfortable ambiance conditions for the patients during their accommodation in a hospital. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the window size, the location (Paralimni in Cyprus and Brussels in Belgium), the room orientation and patients’ gaze direction have an impact on visual and non-visual effects. This research focuses on hospitals’ most typical patient room: the double room (3.50m * 5.50m). The building parameters under study arc eight orientations and three window sizes. Moreover, other parameters are the timing (season and hour in a day), the patient placement inside the room, and the patient gaze directions. For this study, computer simulations are used for daylight assessment using climatc-bascd daylight metrics and CIE S026 melanopic metrics for non-visual effects. Research findings show that it is possible to examine design options through a comprehensive investigation of climatc-bascd daylight metrics and CIE S 026 melanopic metrics for optimised performance for visual and non-visual effects.