Daylight in the Museum: Luminance distribution study using HRD photographs

Maria Beatriz Piderit-Moreno

Camila Cáceres Lepin

Carolina Espinoza Sanhueza

ABSTRACT: Daylight is essential when experiencing architectonic spaces; its proper integration and suitable distribution creates a spatial dimension which passes well-being onto people. Therefore, lighting strategies are key in a museum, as they need to guarantee a stable luminous room, giving a good vision of the works. Restrictions to conserve works have led to a limited use of daylighting, favoring the design of artificially-lit spaces making it increasingly more complex to unite daylight and architectonic design. This research looked to study how to bring together daylight, architectonic design and artificial lighting through the analysis of light distribution in the Chilean Pre-Columbian Art Museum, located in Santiago de Chile. The main goal was to analyze the light-space relationship of the exhibition area, starting from the conversation criteria of the works. Different settings were evaluated to get to know the lighting variations among the different architectonic elements and the elements exhibited in the observer’s field of vision. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photographs were taken in the museum to provide a better understanding of the lighting in regards to the performance of human visual perception. The results allowed finding the positive and negative effects in the exhibition area’s light-space relationship.

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