Developing an Outdoor View Evaluation Method for Complex Shading Systems

Access to outdoor views provides notable benefits to building occupants, supporting health, well-being, orientation, and overall comfort. Despite extensive research on daylight, energy, ventilation, and visual comfort, outdoor view remains one of the least explored aspects of indoor environmental quality. The influence of kinetic shading devices on view quality, in particular, has received limited attention. Previous approaches have relied on two-dimensional representations, which do not capture the three-dimensional nature of human vision. Since human eyes perceive a wide field of view both vertically and horizontally, reducing this to flat 2D images introduces. This study introduces a method based on the Universal Visible Sky Factor (uVSF), developed to evaluate the impact of shading systems on outdoor views. The uVSF calculates the ratio of unobstructed sky area by projecting obstruction boundaries onto a continuous sky dome. It also allows assessment of visible sky ratios from multiple viewing points at different vertical heights, moving beyond conventional evaluations. The method was tested on a window equipped with a kinetic shading system composed of horizontal and vertical movable elements. Using uVSF, the study measured unobstructed sky areas from several viewing heights. Compared with traditional 2D evaluations, the uVSF revealed noticeable differences. Initial results indicate that 2D view measurement and uVSF differ by more than 10%. Adjusting the vertical measuring points alters uVSF values but shows no change in the 2D evaluation. These findings suggest that conventional methods may underestimate view access by overlooking spatial depth and vertical obstructions. This research demonstrates the potential of the uVSF method to provide a more accurate assessment of outdoor view quality. Future work will expand testing across a wider range of shading configurations and compare uVSF with existing metrics to examine its accuracy, applicability, and limitations.