360° VR for Qualifying Daylight Design

This paper describes the initial findings in an ongoing project
aimed at bridging the gap between quantitative daylight simulations and
visually perceived daylight quality, using 360° rendered panoramas and
animations displayed in virtual reality. A daylight studio equipped with a
simple façade pattern for a simultaneous Thermal Delight study was used as
case study and test room. The test room was recorded with a 360° camera in
sequential image series on days with different weather conditions. The
resulting 360° VR time-lapse recordings were proposed for visual diurnal
daylight analysis as supplement to thermal measurements used for
calibrating and varying the façade pattern on site and in a corresponding
thermal simulation model. A comparative experiment was set up to calibrate
the perceived visual qualities and ambiance of daylight in 360° photographic
panoramas viewed in VR, compared to the perceived visual qualities and
ambiance of the real world site. Subjective visual evaluations of the virtual
as well as the real space were recorded based on 15 people answering to a
questionnaire. Results from the comparative experiment indicate a variety in
perception of daylight quality and ambiance but a rather uniform perception
of daylight brightness in 360° photographs that can be transferred to 360°
rendered panoramas.