Reintroducing Art Gallery Design for Day Lighting Optimisation

Introduction

Daylighting or the use of natural lighting in buildings traces back to the very first building designs in the architectural history. Phillips reiterated that the history of architecture is tantamount to the history of day lighting (p. 4). The materials used in the windows to let in light have evolved over time with the evolution of building and window designs. Daylight was initially the only source of light for illuminating artworks in art galleries before the discovery of artificial sources of light. For a long time, despite the discovery of the artificial lighting system, every art gallery was designed and built as a daylight facility. However, the trend changed in the late 1950s when the art professionals realized how much damage the daylight have on artworks especially paintings and organic material (Hunt, p. 13).

In addition, the elimination of day lighting meant the removal of windows that created more space for displaying paintings. Yet again, the use of daylight in art galleries is bouncing back into the architectural space. The recent trends advocate for the use of natural light in illuminating indoor spaces as an alternative to the artificial lighting because of environmental concerns with the electrical energy. Besides, the use of natural light saves on cost and provides quality illumination when compared to artificial lighting. Thus, this paper is purposed to explore how the daylighting system design in art galleries can introduce an adequate luminance levels and distribution for the different art work.

 

Pisith Ty

Spring 2017 – Architectural Design Analysis and Methodology

Pat Seeumpornroj, Ph.D.

 

Bangkok Art and Culture Centre