DL-Light is the software suite developed by De Luminæ to help the evaluation of the intake and distribution of natural light in architectural and urban spaces. It uses the latest research results in daylighting and simulation techniques. It combines the validated algorithms of Radiance with a very intuitive interface. DL-Light allows:

• to understand the qualities of the luminous ambience,
• to answer to sustainable certifications requirements,
• to verify the correspondence to architectural intentions,
• to convince of the qualities of the project.

Natural light is an essential part of architecture and urban planning. The luminous ambience in natural light influences various points of view like energetic and scientific, poetic, sensitive, qualitative. The evaluation of daylight for spaces in design helps the participants in the project in their quest for energy savings, comfort and pleasantness. For future users of the project, daylight ambience contributes to health and well-being in the spaces, and also to productivity within the work spaces. Natural light is part of the sustainability assessment methods in most countries and its evaluation is now necessary for certifications. DL-Light calculates :

• luminous autonomy in Daylighting to evaluate how many hours per year artificial lighting is unnecessary. This indicator has been created to quantify the performance of natural light using an illuminance threshold to maintain. Hence it helps to quantify the consumption of energy due to artificial lighting to maintain that minimum illuminance level. The module allows to calculate directly Breeam requirements or custom criteria. You can see an example on this video
• Daylight Factor. Following the same logic as autonomy, you can easily visualize the DF of your interior spaces inside the Sketchup model. This indicator evaluates the performance in Daylighting in unfavourable conditions, the overcast sky. It allows to understand how the light from the sky is distributed in the interior spaces. Daylight Factor inside the SketchUp 3D model This module directly calculates the daylight factor, but also the Breeam requirements for average DF, minimum DF and uniformity.
• Exposure to direct sun.DL-Light calculates the number of hours when direct sunrays hit the faces of a SketchUp model. This allows to make precise solar studies. It takes into account the meteorological data of the site, the clear skies, the overcast ones, etc. It is much more than a simple shadow visualizer. It calculates for a whole period, a season, a whole year or a unique moment.See it here.
• Sky View Factor. The view of the sky in architectural and urban projects is an important aspect of the well-being inside spaces. The SVF module allows to easily understand sky visibility for all the chosen spaces thanks to a visualization with False Color patches along with a quantification on the color palette. check it here.