BIOMIMETIC FACADES FOR OPTIMIZING DAYLIGHTING PERFORMANCE IN OFFICE BUILDINGS

Abstract: Architecture is considered one of the biomimetic fields demanding to learn from nature. Biomimetic helped the designer’s on discovering new techniques that could enrich the building performance. This paper explored the relative relationships between Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), and daylight glare probability (DGP) with modifications on Voronoi screen variables. It aimed to evaluate the effect of biomimetic sunscreen configuration on achieving a balance between illuminance level and glare inside a selected space. Generic office model had been chosen as a base model-oriented south in Cairo, Egypt. The daylighting and glare simulations were combined by using Grasshopper, Diva, and opossum to the office facade. Finally, the results demonstrated that the proposed biomimetic screen technique provided satisfactory daylighting levels within the office space. The optimization with the genetic algorithm system had proved to be successful and the best four solutions for the Voronoi screens were chosen regarding UDI, with a percentage of 88.7%, 88.6%, 84.78%, 77.72%, respectively. Then the DGP percentage tested for the best four cases regarding the worst five camera positions from 8, and the results showed that case 1 and case 3 tend to represent acceptable performance; where the intolerable glare prevented and decreased values of the Daylight glare probability sensation level to perceptible and imperceptible glare.