Visual comfort assessment of daylit and sunlit areas: A longitudinal field survey in classrooms in Kashan, Iran

Simulation results show that 71% of the space in south facing classroom and 20% of the space in north facing classroom receives adequate amount of daylight while 29% of the space in south facing classroom and 0% of it in north facing classroom receives excessive amount of sunlight. According to simulations, each classroom has been divided into daylit and sunlit areas, in which students' assessments about daylight and sunlight have been separately analyzed based on their position. Comparing simulation and survey results show that while students' evaluation about daylight availability in daylit areas is mostly positive, daylight uniformity is not considered “enough” in these areas. Moreover, students' impression about daylight availability in non-daylit areas is rather neutral and more optimistic than simulation results. More interestingly, most students in both sunlit and non-sunlit areas of classrooms do not feel much direct sunlight and glare. In fact, questionnaires' results show a wider range of sunlight acceptance in south facing classroom and visual comfort in north facing classroom than simulation results. According to the results non-daylit areas or sun-lit areas defined by dynamic metrics would not necessarily cause visual discomfort, suggesting that some other factors (e.g., view, configurations of windows, expectations and region) can change the degree of comfort experienced in each space.