Daylight Colour and Pattern in Built Environments: A latitudinal study of daylight and user responses to the varying colour of skies in built environments using spectral simulations.

Three-quarters of the global population will be urban by 2050.

To ensure the liveability, sense of place, and quality of life in new expanding urban areas, urban planning policies should consider spectral characteristic of daylight and the built environment.

The colours and patterns we see around us, at various scales of the urban environment (city, neighbourhood, or street), are a complex interplay between the spectral distribution of daylight and spectrally-specific reflectance of surfaces in the space.

Daylight sculpts the colours and patterns of our environmental perception, giving architects, urban and city planners an effective strategy to create spatial experiences, visual impressions of character and behavioural responses.

However, current daylight simulation workflows used by building professionals do not account for colour renditions nor associated patterns of daylight. Spectral sky data is not readily available.

Spectral simulations (to accurately predict colour and patterns of daylight) are computationally intensive and require further research and validation. Finally, research is inconclusive on how colour and patterns of daylight influence our environmental perception. My proposal is threefold. First, validate spectral sky models in existing spectral simulation platforms for different latitudinal regions.

Second, define spectral dynamics of daylight in diverse urban environments (plaster, brick, reflective facades or spaces with vegetation) and latitudes (polar, temperate or equatorial). Third, conduct user perception studies in built environments with varying regional skies.

This will help formulate design guidelines that consider characteristic qualities of daylight (colour and patterns) with local preferences.

At the end of the two-year fellowship, I aim to expand my publication record, research expertise and create local and international collaborations, to establish myself as an independent researcher ready for a tenure track position.