The Berne Museum of Art (see project photos) was to be extended by a two-storey exhibition room area beneath the existing courtyard, which was to be accessed via a glazed skywalk and an approximately 22 m high staircase. The rooms are open towards the staircase and thus form a spatial unit together with the staircase (see model photos).
The upper, approximately 7m high part of the approximately 42 m long staircase extends over the stairwell as a fully glazed frame structure, through which daylight can also reach the underground exhibition rooms.


Now it was a case of establishing how much daylight can reach the exhibitions at wall level, and particularly how it is distributed in the staircase and into the rooms. The associated question also arose of the times of day and the seasons when direct sunlight can reach the staircase and the exhibitions, and how light and shade are distributed. The results were to be used to determine sun protection measures that would meet the museum requirements with optimum daylight usage.

This was done using a 3D computer model of the extension building and stereographic projections into sun charts in representative locations. This method is shown in detail under Development. This example solution is intended to show the daylight technology possibilities of model construction and the advantages thereof compared to computer simulation (renderings), as explained in the text that accompanies the following pictures.



Light technology model



Sun position simulation



Interior



Daylighting concept