Assessing visual comfort for active building enclosures: a novel simulation workflow for environmentally active top lighting cells

This study examines the impact of top lighting cells in a low-latitude city. It hypothesizes that an environmentally active control system enhances indoor illuminance without causing glare. It proposes a parametric procedure based on three simulation stages using UDI/UDIavg, Image-based, and Imageless DGP. The first stage is a simplified approach for evaluating image-based simulations considering representative dates. The second stage uses the image-based results for selecting the most contributing motion parameters through a One-way Variance-based Sensibility Analysis. The third expands the system's complexity for grid-based year-round simulations. Results indicate tilt motion as the most contributing factor for daylight control. Furthermore, the cells supplement daylight indoors, rendering a minimal increase of approximately 30% of the hours within the adequate illuminance range compared to the base case with no zenithal opening. The system ultimately achieve 100% of the hours in compliance with the selected daylight thresholds without significantly increasing glare.