Method to Analysis Daylight Strategies in Production Home Prototypes: A Case Study of the Appaloosa Plan

In an individual’s life there are several major decisions they must make, one of the most significant being what kind of home they live in. Oftentimes the home type prospective homebuyers choose is a detached, single-family residence. Of detached-single family residences in the United States production homes account for 73% of detached, single-family homes in residential new construction. Due to this high market share of detached, single-family homes being production homes it is vital to assess the quality of the homes being produced. One important lens to evaluate production homes through is the daylighting conditions of the home. The presence of daylight in architectural applications has been shown to be highly beneficial to occupants in elevating their mood, maintaining their circadian rhythms, increasing productivity and reducing fatigue. This research aims to study the daylight conditions of the base floor plan of Taylor Morrison’s Appaloosa plan in Estates at Eastmark Venture II Collection community in Mesa, Arizona as a case study to define a methodology of orientation-based optimization using a Window to Floor Ratio (WFR) calculation. The analysis of the base case Appaloosa plan showed a consistency of under-illuminated conditions in the living area as referenced against IESNA standards within the home at all orientations during the winter and over-illuminated conditions in the dining room during the summer and winter. Two redesigns were conducted including one redesign incorporating only sidelighting strategies and the other including sidelighting and top lighting daylight strategies. The results of these redesigns concluded in redesign one for the living area having an average of 25.7 F.C. for the North, 26.04 F.C. for the East, 25 F.C. for the South, and 22.85 F.C. for the West Orientation. Due to the inability of the West to reach the minimum amount of F.C. to be considered well-lit a second redesign was done and in this the West Orientation achieved 25.04 F.C. The dining room in comparison was able to achieve compliance with one redesign with results showing an average of 19.27 F.C. for the North, 18.42 F.C. for the East, 17.78 F.C. for the South, and 18.02 F.C. for the West orientation during the summer. The winter dining room in comparison was still in compliance with the range of being well-lit but tended to have results with less F.C. such as the North at 18.23 F.C., the East at 16.44 F.C., the South at 16.12 F.C., and the West orientation at 16.35 F.C