The Influence of Light Shelves on Improving the Performance of Indoor Space: An Educational Case Study in Raleigh, North Carolina

Masoome Haghani (NCSU)
Sepide Saeidlu (NCSU)
Ross Davidson (NCSU)
Hu Jianxin (NCSU)

Buildings as a part of urban environment have a key role in climate change. Daylighting is an effective way to improve the quality and performance of an indoor space in buildings specially educational ones which are used during the day. Since glare and overheating are major issues caused by poorly designed space in terms of daylighting, shading can be a solution to improve these issues. In this paper, light shelves are evaluated as one of the shading strategies to redirect a significant part of daylight towards the ceiling improving indoor daylight uniformity and to reduce glare, simultaneously. These potentials make light shelves as one of the most popular design systems for utilizing daylight. The primary method used in this study is the simulation of the digital model in Diva software in differentconditions. This three-phase study is conducted in a typical classroom with a south-facing window located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The first phase is the analysis of the light shelf with two different depths, and in the second phase, the performance of the light shelf will be assessed with different materials. The results of two previous phases will be compared with the base case, which is a window without any shading, at the final phase. The results show that using a light shelf with specific depth and material could have a significant effect on improving the daylight performance and energy efficiency of the indoor space in educational buildings.

Key Words: ‘Climate Change’, ‘Daylighting’, ‘Light shelf’, ‘Shading’, ‘Classroom’