360° VR for Qualifying Daylight Design

¹ Institute of Architecture and Design, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (KADK), Copenhagen, Denmark
² Institute of Architecture and Technology, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (KADK), Copenhagen, Denmark

^* Corresponding author: anette.kreutzberg@kadk.dk

Abstract

This paper describes the initial findings in an ongoing project aimed at bridging the gap between quantitative daylight simulations and visually perceived daylight quality, using 360° rendered panoramas and animations displayed in virtual reality. A daylight studio equipped with a simple façade pattern for a simultaneous Thermal Delight study was used as case study and test room. The test room was recorded with a 360° camera in sequential image series on days with different weather conditions. The resulting 360° VR time-lapse recordings were proposed for visual diurnal daylight analysis as supplement to thermal measurements used for calibrating and varying the façade pattern on site and in a corresponding thermal simulation model. A comparative experiment was set up to calibrate the perceived visual qualities and ambiance of daylight in 360° photographic panoramas viewed in VR, compared to the perceived visual qualities and ambiance of the real world site. Subjective visual evaluations of the virtual as well as the real space were recorded based on 15 people answering to a questionnaire. Results from the comparative experiment indicate a variety in perception of daylight quality and ambiance but a rather uniform perception of daylight brightness in 360° photographs that can be transferred to 360° rendered panoramas.