The effectiveness of Atriums as means of daylighting in Kampala’s Commercial Office Buildings.

Abstract

Daylighting today has become a fundamental measure not only to decrease the heating energy demand in buildings, but also to provide good indoor comfort for the occupants. The use of sunlight to create light in interior living spaces goes as far back as prehistoric cave dwelling times of human habitations (Phillips, 2004). In a world concerned about carbon emissions, global warming, and sustainable design that ensure well health being of its people, the planned use of natural light in non-residential buildings is becoming an important strategy in improving energy efficiency by minimizing lighting, heating, and cooling loads https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37410170_Daylight_in_Buildings_-_A_source_book_on_daylighting_systems_and_components/link/56376acb08ae758841153b2c/download. Appropriately incorporating daylighting into the building design can improve the economics of a building, positively impact utility costs and by extension the environment as well as result in improvements to the health, productivity, and mood of those working and learning in the building. In the recent years, atria as a means of allowing the penetration of daylight into buildings is at a high use in most buildings in Kampala City. Highly glazed spaces and atrium buildings are seen as a sign of technology. Atria contribute to the passive heating and is used in the overall ventilation and cooling strategy and always makes daylight available to the spaces around it thus significantly reducing the energy consumption of the building With the increasing number of high rise office buildings in Kampala and atriums as the only means of introducing daylight into the the buildings. It's for this reason as to why this research was carried out to determine how effective these atriums are and come up with recommendations how they can be improved in the coming up buildings.