VELUX Build for Life

In this video, Prof. Marilyne Andersen discusses the many benefits, challenges, promises and ongoing research on daylighting as an essential part of our daily life. The podcast addresses questions of design, comfort, resource efficiency and health by diving into new discoveries emerging from daylight research. She notably discussed the influence of daylight on human physiology and its role in entraining our biological clock and synchronising our circadian rhythms. She also goes into its importance in emotional and psychological well-being and the many factors influencing this, from contrast composition to views out. These psycho-physiological effects of light also need to be reconciled with visual comfort objectives, notably through a better understanding of glare, which comes with daylighting control and shading, and the need to be more energy-efficient in buildings. These considerations are at the core of the EPFL spin-off that she co-founded with two of her former PhD students, named OCULIGHT dynamics and providing specialised decision support to architects building owners and developers on these essential daylighting benefits. This interview complements another podcast registered in November 2021 In Copenhagen during the VELUX Build for Life conference, where Marilyne Andersen contributed to a panel on daylight's Affordability, with a focus on « How much daylight matters ».