architect to discuss this with his client, and there may also be conflict with
the orientation of a room when associated with the ability to enjoy a
particular view.
As with all architecture a compromise will need to be established which
best fits the needs of the interior function. What is essential is that the
orientation of a building and the interior layout takes most advantage of
the daylight available and is a factor taken into consideration at the outset
of the building design.
Each architectural programme whether an office, school or church, will
have its own specific needs of orientation, and this is of special
significance where the interior function is one requiring the inhabitants
to sit in fixed positions, often the case in offices or classrooms.
Another aspect of orientation and one where the mere presence of
daylighting is reassuring, is the subconscious desire of people when
inside a building to keep in touch with the outside world, whether to
know the time of day or the nature of the weather. An example of this
might be taken from the modern shopping centre. The Victorians had got
it right when they introduced overhead daylighting from domes or barrel
vaults to their shopping arcades. But in the 1960s many of our early
shopping centres cut out daylight altogether, leading to people finding it
difficult to negotiate their way around or to find the exits.
In one large shopping centre built in Hong Kong in the 1970s where
daylight had been eliminated, visitors felt so disorientated that extreme
measures had to be taken; whilst at City Plaza, another shopping centre
of similar size where daylight had been provided over much of the
multistorey space, it was an immediate success.
There is little likelihood that any shopping centre built now would not
be daylit, there is a public demand for natural light in large open areas
used by the public during the day and whilst the individual shop may be
lit with artificial light to enhance the goods on sale, the public areas will
assist orientation by the provision of daylight. At night the whole
atmosphere will change, contributing to the variety we associate with the
high street shop with artificial light taking over after dark.
Environment 11City Plaza, Hong KongDP Archive