A systematic review of window design for daylight and glare control in office environments

Daylighting is a key sustainable design strategy that enhances occupants’ well-being, productivity, and visual comfort while reducing building energy consumption. However, side-lit spaces often experience uneven daylight distribution and glare risks, making daylight-oriented window design critical, particularly for offices. Despite extensive research on daylighting, there remains a lack of comprehensive reviews of window design strategies related to daylight performance in such environments. To address this gap, this review aims to identify and synthesize key window design parameters, technologies, and strategies influencing daylight and glare control in offices, focusing on glazing-level solutions while excluding external and internal shading devices. It systematically reviews peer-reviewed studies published over the past decade, following a PRISMA-guided search using Scopus and Web of Science databases. The review outlines key spatial window parameters, including window-to-wall ratio (WWR), geometry, position, and orientation. It also categorizes optical properties and glazing technologies such as visible light transmittance (VT) and both static and adaptive window systems. The main findings indicate that advanced glazing technologies, including electrochromic (EC) and photovoltaic (PV) windows, offer greater flexibility for improving visual comfort. Their performance depends on factors such as VT ranges, orientation, cell coverage, and climatic conditions. Dividing windows into multiple sections with appropriate VT values can also significantly improve the balance between daylight availability and glare control. Automatically controlled multi-zone EC windows show strong potential for achieving high lighting comfort, particularly when integrated with lighting systems. Given the predominance of simulation-based evidence, these findings should be considered exploratory and the identified parameter ranges indicative rather than validated thresholds. Orientation-related findings should also be interpreted cautiously due to the dominance of Northern Hemisphere studies on south-facing windows and limited Southern Hemisphere evidence. The review offers practical insights for sustainable facade design, identifies future research opportunities for daylight–glare control in side-lit offices, and supports high-comfort workplaces.