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.