As cities expand, become more populous and dense, buildings become taller, and building materials constantly evolve, it is crucial to ensure the sustainability of the environment. Daylight is critical in buildings, as it affects people’s health and well-being. Evaluation of daylight in buildings is done according to the standards, regulations and sustainability certifications of every country. It is important that countries have an informed regulatory process, and that the regulations used are sufficient to ensure good daylighting, keeping building occupants happy and healthy, and energy costs down.
The aim of this thesis is to review methods used to evaluate daylighting in buildings, and their suitability to the unique Nordic daylight in Iceland, as well as reviewing whether or not there is a need to update the current building regulations in Iceland, which are lacking in setting standards for good daylighting. This is done through a literature review on the geographical location of Iceland, the history of architecture and urban planning in Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavík, an analysis on evaluation methods for daylighting, as well as a review on building regulations in Iceland and Norway, along with two internationally recognized sustainability certifications. Qualitative interviews with lighting designers and architects were conducted in order to get an understanding of the knowledge that professionals possess, as well as their thoughts and concerns on the matter.
The evaluation method thought to be most suited for Nordic daylight was Climate Based Daylight Modeling, nevertheless, through qualitative interviews it was concluded to be a technique too new and advanced to implement yet as a standard method in the small industry that exist in Iceland today. The hypothesis was confirmed, the building regulations in Iceland are generally considered not to date, especially in regards to the increased availability of technology to design for good daylighting, as well as construction techniques.