Daylighting performance in UAE traditional buildings used as museums

Several studies revealed the importance of daylighting for museums. However, daylighting is not easy to control and poor indoor lighting environment could deteriorate the valuable artifacts and results in the sacrifice of visual comfort for visitors. In recent years, the UAE government has given a special consideration to conservation of its traditional buildings and turned many valuable ones into museums. Yet, these buildings were not designed or built as museums and thus concern about their performance is raised. The objective of this manuscript is to investigate the daylighting performance in traditional UAE buildings that were turned into museums with specific focus on museum lighting requirements. The study used several techniques such as on-site measurements, data collection and analysis, and computer simulation using DAYSIM (Diva plug-in for Rhino). The simulation tool was used to evaluate the lighting performance for several cases under UAE clear sky conditions. The tested climate-based daylighting metrics were daylighting autonomy, light distribution and uniformity, and light effect on artifact deterioration. The location and distribution of the sensor points depended on the size of the display room and possible locations of the artifacts. The daylighting analysis in this paper discusses four typical orientations of existing museums, which are the Northeast (NE), Northwest (NW), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE). Only windows in outward walls (i.e.; looking upon the streets) are examined in this paper. The results were analyzed and improvements were suggested to improve the overall lighting environment and to reduce the light exposure on the valuable artifacts. Suggestions included better spatial arrangement, better design and sizing of openings, and implementation of more effective shading systems