Design in the Daylight for Better Academic Progression

The Generic Design Brief for school buildings lays down clear guidelines for how much natural lighting should be provided in classrooms. This is an important aspect of complying with the Facilities Output Specification. The guidelines emphasize the importance of natural light in promoting wellbeing and learning progression.

The beneficial effects of daylight on learning have been studied extensively and reveal a consistent story of students progressing faster when they have more natural light in their classrooms.

The specific requirements for Daylight Autonomy (sDA) and Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) can get a bit technical and it’s not the intention to explore them in depth here. The significant question is how those performance levels can be incorporated most easily into the design of classrooms, and delivered in practice.

Light and Heat

Designing for daylight calls for may factors to be considered, including the site location and orientation. While incorporating as much natural light as possible it’s also important to avoid glare and overheating. Issues such as the thermal mass of the building have to be balanced to make sure that designs are not over-reliant on mechanical cooling.

Projects need to be design-led with as few constraints as possible imposed by the construction methodology. There also has to be a high degree of confidence that what is designed can be easily built as envisaged – so that daylight performance isn’t compromised by late design changes.

Flexibility and Precision

The large format panels used in the System offer maximum flexibility over the size, position and type of windows and rooflights. The panels are designed and manufactured accordingly to ensure structural integrity and that onsite installation precisely matches the design.

Specific advantages of using SIPs include the following:

• Design flexibility to provide daylight in circulation areas and rear of classrooms
• Flexible fenestration, depth and height ratios for different daylight requirements dependent on building orientation
• Integrated windows to the underside of soffits to optimise daylight fall to rear of classroom
• Integrated rooflights and clerestories on top floors to improve daylight quality
• Support for light-shelves and solar shading

Louvres can also be easily integrated to produce natural cross-flow ventilation for south-facing rooms. To maintain comfortable internal temperatures, it’s also important to model the thermal performance of the building in relation to the natural lighting.

The Innovaré hybrid system of precast concrete floors and SIPs makes it possible to engineer the thermal mass and performance with precision. And precision brings us to the final advantage of panelised offsite construction for education. Any window openings will be created to fine tolerances. Extra window openings don’t come with the risk of draughts and heat loss, even if they are positioned facing prevailing or cold winds.

Panelised offsite construction is being specified increasingly for school building projects. The flexibility to incorporate innovative natural lighting solutions is just one of the reasons, alongside faster build times and controllable budgets.