Study on the potential of light wells in deep plan readymade garments factory buildings in Dhaka

Abstract

Ready-made garments (RMG) factories are playing a vital role in the economy of Bangladesh, supported by the labour of the workers who spent major part of day time in the RMG factory buildings and engaged in different types of works, such as cutting, sewing, ironing and packing. In general, because of poor visual environment of RMG factories, the workers often feel discomfort and health problems that impact on productivity. The aim of this research is to develop architectural design strategies to incorporate light well in RMG factory buildings to improve luminous environment in context of Dhaka. To incorporate light well in the RMG buildings, effectively, simulation analysis was done to identify sensible location of light well in the building, define physical parameters of light well spaces and refine light well configurations. In this research DAYSIM, that use dynamic Climate-Based Daylight Modelling (CBDM) method was used to calculate Daylight Autonomy (DA), Maximum Daylight Autonomy (DAmax), Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) and annual illumination profile for the selected case RMG building. DAYSIM use RADIANCE (backward) raytracer combined with a daylight coefficient approach considering Perez all weather sky luminance models. ECOTECT was used as the modelling interface to launch DAYSIM program. The findings show that the square shaped north oriented semi-enclosed light well proportion of 1:12 with respect to the volume of a six story RMG building, perform better to enhance visual quality into the interior space compared to other studied configurations, locations and proportions of light well. It is expected that the outcome of this research will help architects and designers to incorporate light well in RMG buildings to enhance the interior lighting quality of the RMG factories in the context of Dhaka, that will also improve the productivity of workspace.