Morphometric method of daylight factor Kairouan great mosque case

Natural light is a fundamental component of the architectural form. Understanding the
interaction of natural light and building’s form informs about the architectural knowledge in the field of energy
efficiency and improves the building quality and performance. It is often approached either as a physical
phenomenon in connection with functional aspects of comfort and needs, or as a sensory phenomenon in
connection with the sensory perception of the constructed environment. We propose another way, which is
to handle the natural light in architecture as a measurable morphological phenomenon.
This paper proposes a morphometric method for characterizing and measuring the daylight form. The
morphometry concerns the digital simulation of the daylight factor in the great mosque of Kairouan. The
selected software for daylight factor simulation is Radiance in Ecotect.
The aim of this work is to convert the sensitive into the tangible, with a view to understand how to design
buildings’ morphology while ensuring mastery of natural light.
Light is a measurable form. Designing with the natural light can be optimized through the analysis of its
morphology.