Dynamic Annual Metrics for Contrast in Daylit Architecture

Daylight is a dynamic source of illumination in architectural space, creating diverse and ephemeral configurations of light and shadow within the built environment. It can generate contrasting levels of brightness between distinct geometries or it can highlight smooth gradients of texture and color within the visual field. Although there are a growing number of studies that seek to define the relationship between brightness, contrast, and lighting quality, the dynamic role of daylight within the visual field is underrepresented by existing metrics. This study proposes a new family of metrics that quantify the magnitude of contrast-based visual effects and time-based variation within daylit space through the use of time-segmented daylight renderings. This paper will introduce two new annual metrics; Annual Spatial Contrast and Annual Luminance Variability. These metrics will be applied to a series of abstract case studies to evaluate their effectiveness in comparing annual contrast-based visual effects.