Creating sunshine environments in public spaces of residential districts in the colder regions of China: a digital simulation

Abstract

Taking full advantage of the natural light is a key element of eco-settlement design, and also an essential index of evaluating the quality of residential districts. The research of architectural interior lighting for residential districts is quite mature, but the research for sunshine environments of residential public spaces is still neglected, especially for the small towns in cold area of China, where the sunshine environment is even more important. Digital simulation technology based on computer science development has influenced the design of architecture and urban planning deeply. The development and use of digital simulation platforms make it possible that planning can compare, analyze and adjust design through the environmental performance-based assessment at any time. In this paper, an analysis of the sunshine environment and its impact on the public spaces in cold regions is presented. It takes a typical small town in a residential district as the study object. It uses environmental and spatial simulation software such as Ecotect Analysis and Depthmap,, to simulate and study the solar radiation distribution at specific time periods in the residential district public spaces. Combined with the characteristic of residential activities, it adjusts the program and tests the results to ascertain the cold climate adaptability of the public space of small towns in order tobetter fit activity characteristics of cold regions.