View Quality Assessments: A Pilot Study of Field Methods

This paper describes findings from a workshop during which participants evaluated a series of window views. An explorative approach was applied to identify issues and testing methods useful in daylight research. The participants visited nine rooms with views of varied content, complexity, and viewing distance under the overcast sky. Participants used surveys with quantitative and qualitative questions, hand drawings, illuminance measurements, and photography to appraise the view quality. Subsequently, daylight simulations and neurocognitive tests have been carried out in two rooms with “bad” and “good” views. Multi-directional views were valued more than narrow or single-directional views. The cognitive testing showed numerical differences in several measures and a significant correlation between the difference scores for sadness and the difference scores for Trail Making Test-B across two rooms. The study identified that buildings of historical value, a presence of greenery, colored building facades, or a presence of people (content) contribute to a positive assessment of the view but are not included in the assessment criteria.