Daylight Visualizer
Natural lighting is necessary to both physical and psychological wellbeing.
The VELUX Daylight Visualizer helps use determine whether your living and working areas provide enough of it.
The healing effects of daylight
Natural light guarantees optimal visual comfort. It creates a sense of calm, allowing people to see things in their true colours. It also is better and more pleasant than artificial light. Healthy lighting should include periods of darkness. Cyclical and with a rich spectrum of blue colours, natural light regulates the human body’s biorhythm (the circadian rhythm), which is fundamental to mental health. Furthermore, it is free, non-polluting and inexhaustible.
In our buildings, where we spend 80% of our time, natural light enters through the glass sections, enhancing our sense of well-being, improving concentration, stimulating learning, promoting productivity and posture, and accelerating the healing process, as numerous studies have shown. For example, views of nature can improve quality of life (Kaplan, 2001), enhance well-being (Kaplan, 1993), increase feelings of oneness with nature (Newsham et al., 2009), improve mood (Grinde and Grindal Patil, 2009), reduce health problems (Heschong Mahone Group, 2003), increase job satisfaction and shorten recovery time after surgery (Ulrich, 1984), and reduce stress (Ulrich et al., 1991).
Healthy architecture
Elegant architecture favours natural lighting. Windows and large panes offer a view of the outside world. When the windows are open, fresh air easily flows into rooms. This privileged contact with the outside world is essential to our quality of life. The fact that glass is transparent makes it a unique material. Thanks to its glazing, glass windows allow the eye to rest by letting you gaze into the distance after looking at screens and other reading support for prolonged periods.
VELUX Daylight Visualizer
Velux, a member of inDUfed, developed a tool to calculate the amount of daylight in a building in an objective way, making it possible to compare it with the European standard EN 17037.
The calculation method takes into account the size of the windows, the orientation of the building, the environment and so on….
The tool was scientifically validated by Buildwise and can be tried out for free here.