SEVERAL RESEARCH PROJECTS HAVE REVEALED THE IMPORTANCE OF CIRCADIAN LIGHT IN THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF PEOPLE. MOST OF THESE STUDIES HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT IN EXTREME REGIONS, WITH A LACK OF DAYLIGHT. HOWEVER, THIS HAS LED TO GREATER AWARENESS OF THE NON-VISUAL EFFECTS OF LIGHT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LIGHTING DESIGNS THAT CONSIDER PRINCIPLES THAT GENERATE CIRCADIAN ACTIVATION IN ALL CONTEXTS, INCLUDING THE GLOBAL SOUTH. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS CHAPTER IS TO ANALYZE THE LIGHTING CONDITIONS AND TO KNOW THE CIRCADIAN STIMULATION POTENTIAL FOR OFFICES THAT LACK WINDOWS FOR DAYLIGHT AND ARE ONLY ILLUMINATED WITH ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING, WHERE A LOW CIRCADIAN IMPACT IS ASSUMED. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT IN OFFICES THAT WERE NOT INTENTIONALLY PLANNED TO COMPLY WITH THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CIRCADIAN STIMULUS, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE IT JUST BY HAVING LAMPS WITH A COLOR TEMPERATURE BETWEEN 3000 TO 6500 K, BUT IT IS NECESSARY TO HAVE HORIZONTAL ILLUMINANCE LEVELS ABOVE 300 LX AND EVALUATE THE VERTICAL ILLUMINANCE THAT THE OCCUPANT HAS, WHEN DESIGNING. IT IS NECESSARY TO MOVE TOWARDS A MORE INTEGRATED DESIGN, FOCUSING ON WORKPLACES WITHOUT ACCESS TO DAYLIGHT.

THE CHAPTER DISCUSSES THE OPTIMIZATION OF DAYLIGHTING STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE VISUAL COMFORT IN SIDE-LIT OFFICE SPACES. GLAZED FACADES ARE COMMONLY USED IN THE DESIGN OF OFFICE BUILDINGS, WHERE DIRECT SUNLIGHT CAUSES VISUAL GLARE, AND THE PROLONGED USE OF DYNAMIC USER-OPERATED SHADING DEVICES REDUCES DAYLIGHTING AND BLOCKS THE VIEW OUTSIDE. VISUAL COMFORT AT THE USE STAGE DEPENDS ON EARLY DESIGN DECISIONS APPROPRIATE TO EACH CONTEXT TO MAXIMIZE UNIFORM DAYLIGHT INDOORS AND CONTROL GLARE RISK. THIS MAY BE A CHALLENGE IN EXTENSIVE TERRITORIES WITH GREAT VARIABILITY OF PREVALENT SKIES AND DAYLIGHT AVAILABILITY. THE RESEARCH WAS CARRIED OUT IN AN EXPERIMENTAL OFFICE SPACE PROTOTYPE, ANALYZING DAYLIGHT STRATEGIES IN THREE CHILEAN CITIES WITH DIFFERENT CLIMATE CONDITIONS. THEY WERE EVALUATED USING THE CLIMATE-BASED DAYLIGHT MODELING METHOD AND VALIDATED WITH THE DYNAMIC DAYLIGHTING METRICS IN SUSTAINABLE CODES. THE CHAPTER PROVIDES A SELECTION OF DAYLIGHTING STRATEGIES SUITABLE FOR DIFFERENT CLIMATES. IT ILLUSTRATES THE DAYLIGHT PERFORMANCE REGARDING ILLUMINATION LEVEL AND THE POTENTIAL GLARE CONTROL TO ACHIEVE VISUAL COMFORT FOR THE OCCUPANTS.

IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT IN BUILDINGS WITH FULLY GLAZED FACADES DESIGNED TO SAVE ELECTRICITY AND INCREASE DAYLIGHT, OVERHEATING DUE TO EXCESSIVE SOLAR GAINS AND GLARE HAVE BECOME RECURRENT PROBLEMS, AFFECTING THE QUALITY OF THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENT IN OFFICE BUILDINGS. LIKEWISE, THE FOCUS SHOULD NOT ONLY BE ON REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION BUT ALSO ON PROVIDING COMFORT BY APPLYING DAYLIGHT STRATEGIES APPROPRIATE TO EACH CONTEXT. IN CONTEXTS SUCH AS CHILE, WHERE THERE IS SIGNIFICANT VARIABILITY OF DAYLIGHT DUE TO THE EXTENSION OF THE TERRITORY, (17 29, 57,, S - 56 32,12,, S) DESIGNING WITH THE CORRECT PASSIVE SOLAR STRATEGIES CAN BECOME A CHALLENGE. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS TO INVESTIGATE THE APPLICATION OF PASSIVE SOLAR STRATEGIES IN SIDE-LIT OFFICE SPACES, FOCUSING ON DESIGNS THAT MAXIMISE DAYLIGHT PENETRATION WHILE PROTECTING OCCUPANTS FROM THE RISKS OF DIRECT SOLAR GLARE, AND ON METHODS TO PREDICT THE DAYLIGHT PERFORMANCE. A THEORETICAL MODEL IS THE PROTOTYPE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL OFFICE, LOCATED IN THREE CHILEAN CITIES WITH DIFFERENT PREVAILING SKY CONDITIONS, BUT ADAPTED TO THE DIFFERENT CONTEXTS BY INTEGRATING THE DESIGN STRATEGIES RECOMMENDED BY THE LEADING ENTITIES IN ADVANCED ENERGY AND DAYLIGHT DESIGN. DAYLIGHT PERFORMANCE WAS EVALUATED USING CLIMATE-BASED DAYLIGHT MODELLING, WITH SPATIAL DAYLIGHT AUTONOMY, ANNUAL SUNLIGHT EXPOSURE, AND USEFUL DAYLIGHT ILLUMINANCE METRICS, WHICH CAN INTEGRATE THE DAYLIGHT PROVISION AND POTENTIAL GLARE PREDICTION INTO A COMBINED APPROACH. THIS ANALYSIS WAS COMPLEMENTED BY USING A DAYLIGHT GLARE PROBABILITY INDEX TO VERIFY THE UPPER-LIT THRESHOLDS OF THE APPLIED METHODS. THIS PAPER PROVIDES AN EASY-TO-APPLY DAYLIGHT STRATEGIES GUIDE FOR DESIGNERS AND THE COMPARISON OF THE DAYLIGHT METRICS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATE CONTEXTS