The impact of surface properties on interior daylight availability : Case study of a Swedish office adapted for residential purposes
Bálint Palmgren, Oscar LU
(2026)
6th Central European Symposium on Building Physics
In Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
2.
p.1067-1079
- Abstract
- Daylight is crucial for the well-being of individuals in indoor environments, providing numerous physiological and psychological benefits. Achieving satisfactory daylight levels can be particularly challenging during adaptive reuse of existing buildings for new purposes. This study determined the feasibility of adapting an office for residential use by assessing interior daylight availability and the effect of surface properties. The effect of six parameters on two static daylight metrics was evaluated across 24 rooms on two floors of a Swedish office building. Daylight simulations were conducted using Radiance within the Grasshopper® environment in Rhinoceros®. The effect of the parameters on both daylight metrics was determined through... (More)
- Daylight is crucial for the well-being of individuals in indoor environments, providing numerous physiological and psychological benefits. Achieving satisfactory daylight levels can be particularly challenging during adaptive reuse of existing buildings for new purposes. This study determined the feasibility of adapting an office for residential use by assessing interior daylight availability and the effect of surface properties. The effect of six parameters on two static daylight metrics was evaluated across 24 rooms on two floors of a Swedish office building. Daylight simulations were conducted using Radiance within the Grasshopper® environment in Rhinoceros®. The effect of the parameters on both daylight metrics was determined through global sensitivity analysis using the method of Morris. The study showed that daylight levels were expected to exceed the legal minimum. However, the variability due to the effect of studied parameters was such that daylight levels could fall below the legal threshold under certain conditions. The visual transmittance of glazing in apertures had the largest effect on interior daylight levels, while the reflectance of major room surfaces influenced the uniformity of daylight distribution more. All parameters displayed nearly monotonic or slightly non-linear relationships with at least one of the daylight metrics. While the study confirmed that the proposed adaptation was able to achieve adequate interior daylight conditions, further research is necessary to produce generalizable conclusions on daylight availability regarding adaptive reuse of office buildings for residential purposes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4b41745a-c810-4230-93bf-93849f6c947c
- author
- Bálint Palmgren, Oscar
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-02-26
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Adaptive reuse, Daylight availability, Sensitivity analysis
- host publication
- Proceedings of CESBP 2025 - 6th Central European Symposium on Building Physics
- series title
- Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
- volume
- 2
- article number
- 1
- pages
- 12 pages
- publisher
- Springer Nature
- conference name
- 6th Central European Symposium on Building Physics
- conference location
- Budapest, Hungary
- conference dates
- 2025-09-11 - 2025-09-13
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105031752733
- ISSN
- 2366-2557
- 2366-2565
- ISBN
- 978-3-032-14019-7
- 978-3-032-14018-0
- 978-3-032-14021-0
- project
- Doctorate of Philosophy in Building Physics
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4b41745a-c810-4230-93bf-93849f6c947c
- date added to LUP
- 2026-02-27 11:27:32
- date last changed
- 2026-05-16 09:33:22
@inproceedings{4b41745a-c810-4230-93bf-93849f6c947c,
abstract = {{Daylight is crucial for the well-being of individuals in indoor environments, providing numerous physiological and psychological benefits. Achieving satisfactory daylight levels can be particularly challenging during adaptive reuse of existing buildings for new purposes. This study determined the feasibility of adapting an office for residential use by assessing interior daylight availability and the effect of surface properties. The effect of six parameters on two static daylight metrics was evaluated across 24 rooms on two floors of a Swedish office building. Daylight simulations were conducted using Radiance within the Grasshopper® environment in Rhinoceros®. The effect of the parameters on both daylight metrics was determined through global sensitivity analysis using the method of Morris. The study showed that daylight levels were expected to exceed the legal minimum. However, the variability due to the effect of studied parameters was such that daylight levels could fall below the legal threshold under certain conditions. The visual transmittance of glazing in apertures had the largest effect on interior daylight levels, while the reflectance of major room surfaces influenced the uniformity of daylight distribution more. All parameters displayed nearly monotonic or slightly non-linear relationships with at least one of the daylight metrics. While the study confirmed that the proposed adaptation was able to achieve adequate interior daylight conditions, further research is necessary to produce generalizable conclusions on daylight availability regarding adaptive reuse of office buildings for residential purposes.}},
author = {{Bálint Palmgren, Oscar}},
booktitle = {{Proceedings of CESBP 2025 - 6th Central European Symposium on Building Physics}},
isbn = {{978-3-032-14019-7}},
issn = {{2366-2557}},
keywords = {{Adaptive reuse; Daylight availability; Sensitivity analysis}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
pages = {{1067--1079}},
publisher = {{Springer Nature}},
series = {{Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering}},
title = {{The impact of surface properties on interior daylight availability : Case study of a Swedish office adapted for residential purposes}},
volume = {{2}},
year = {{2026}},
}