Daylight distribution in the living rooms of four types of public housing building in Singapore

Abstract

The Housing Development Board of Singapore has been designing and constructing multi-storey high density housing estates since the 1970s. Newer developments have less open space between building blocks, though they offer more communal spaces within the configuration of the buildings. This study simulates the daylighting availability in the living rooms of the typical residential units in four generations of housing estates up to the late 1990s. It finds that illuminances are lower in the newer estates. Three sky conditions were modelled (clear, cloudy and partly cloudy) and the interior daylight was calculated at 10a.m. in living rooms at three story levels and four orientations.