Democratic Light: Daylighting Design and the Tate Hall Building Restoration

A case study of a recent project at Tate Hall on the University of Minnesota campus illustrates how the architectural firm Alliiance employed the concept of “daylight democracy” as a primary design driver for renovations and an addition to the building that is located in the Northrop Mall Historic District. This article identifies strategies used in the project to foster more democratic, equitable, and accessible approaches to daylighting that support program tasks and activities, visual comfort, and health and well-being for all building occupants regardless of the types of space and program activities. The discussion includes: (1) an overview of daylight strategies at the site, building, and room scales, (2) whole building daylighting analyses using DIVA, ElumTools, and Licaso software to evaluate illuminance levels and visual comfort, and (3) a Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) of the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) to document user satisfaction, comfort, and well-being. Daylighting design conclusions summarize the strategies that are most effective in supporting the design goal of “daylight democracy.”

Iñaki Abalos

Professor in Residence, Department of Architecture, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Orazio Carpenzano

Dean, Facoltà di Architettura, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome

Yung Ho Chang

Professor of Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Winka Dubbeldam

Founder of Archi-Tectonics, Miller Professor and Chair of Architecture at Stuart Weitzman School of Design

Brian Ford

Professor Emeritus, Department of Architecture & Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Hsinming Fung

Professor, SCI-Arc, Los Angeles CA, USA

Carlo Gasparrini

Professor of Urbanism, Dipartimento di Architettura, Universita' degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

Rahul Mehrotra

Professor of Urban Design and Planning, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Antoine Picon

Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Mónica Ponce de León

Dean, School of Architecture, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA

Jane Rendell

Professor, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, London, UK

Peter Rich

Professor of Architecture, Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa

Michael Speaks

Dean, School of Architecture, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, USA

Martha Thorne

Hon FRIBA, Hon COAM, Senior Advisor for The OBEL Award

C David Tseng

Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Chiao-Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan

Sarah Whiting

Dean, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Li Xiangning

Deputy Dean, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Democratic Light: Daylighting Design and the Tate Hall Building Restoration

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