Optimisation of Passive Solar Design Strategies in Side-lit Offices: Maximising Daylight Penetration While Reducing the Risk of Glare in Different Chilean Climate Contexts

It has been shown that in buildings with fully glazed facades designed to save electricity and increase daylight, overheating due to excessive solar gains and glare have become recurrent problems, affecting the quality of the indoor environment in office buildings. Likewise, the focus should not only be on reducing energy consumption but also on providing comfort by applying daylight strategies appropriate to each context. In contexts such as Chile, where there is significant variability of daylight due to the extension of the territory, (17°29'57" S 56°32'12" S) designing with the correct passive solar strategies can become a challenge. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the application of passive solar strategies in side-lit office spaces, focusing on designs that maximise daylight penetration while protecting occupants from the risks of direct solar glare, and on methods to predict the daylight performance. A theoretical model is the prototype of an experimental office, located in three Chilean cities with different prevailing sky conditions, but adapted to the different contexts by integrating the design strategies recommended by the leading entities in advanced energy and daylight design. Daylight performance was evaluated using climate-based daylight modelling, with spatial daylight autonomy, annual sunlight exposure, and useful daylight illuminance metrics, which can integrate the daylight provision and potential glare prediction into a combined approach. This analysis was complemented by using a daylight glare probability index to verify the upper-lit thresholds of the applied methods. This paper provides an easy-to-apply daylight strategies guide for designers and the comparison of the daylight metrics in different climate contexts. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by solarlits.com. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).