Lighting simulation for architectural design: a case study

The paper considers some of the lighting simulation tools at present available to architects for lighting and environmental design. We study the usability and accuracy of various systems: scale models, numerical simulations, rendering programs. An already built environment is the reference comparison for the accuracy of the simulation systems. Quantitatively, the software compute photometric values in physical units in a discrete number of points of the environment. Qualitatively, the programs generate images of visible radiation comparable to photographs of the real environment. They combine calculations with computer graphics, that is, they translate numerical values into images.