Transition Portal for Daylighting Calculations in Early Phase Design

Abstract Daylighting studies are becoming increasingly important for early stage design of buildings and their facades. As architects generate increasingly complex building models in early phase design, this necessity for daylighting simulations is growing. Unfortunately, simulation models used for daylighting analysis are often over-simplified to reduce computation time, and these models tend not to simulate sufficient results for accurate facade studies and room detail. We present an accurate, easy-to-use, interactive, physically-based daylighting Transition Portal simulation method for design and analyses for daylighting in early phase design. The Transition Portal can enable comprehensive visual interfaces for building designers yielding global illumination solutions for their design by leveraging a radiosity based approach to calculate daylighting illumination studies. This novel method is significantly faster and more accurate than existing early design simulation techniques. These procedures can be used to determine the illumination at any specific point in time or space, or averaged on a monthly or yearly basis for any given weather model. After a priori computations, solutions at any time step can be obtained in a few milliseconds on modern computer workstations.