HELIOS: Solar rights analysis system for apartment buildings

In Korea, the development of high-rise apartment buildings has brought about residential environment problems such as violation of solar rights. The number of civil petitions and disputes over solar rights has increased recently. Solar rights are demanded when buildings are restricted to solar access by adjacent buildings. In other words, the geometrical characteristics of new buildings influence the solar access of adjacent buildings. This problem has negatively affected human health, work productivity, thermal comfort, and visual comfort-Comment. As a measure, the Korean building code on solar rights was enacted to protect the rights of residents to solar access. As a result, a solar rights analysis system was developed to evaluate the solar rights in apartment buildings, quantitatively. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are to standardize the solar rights analysis process and data structure, and develop a solar rights analysis system (HELIOS). To this end, the definition of ‘solar right’ is examined by studying the various relevant literatures, and solar rights assessment methods are investigated to apply to the solar rights analysis system. The geometrical characteristics of apartment buildings are observed, and the geometric elements are extracted to create the data structure. Then the hierarchy and the relationships between these geometric elements are systematically clarified. Data structure for solar rights analysis system using XML is designed, HELIOS is developed by system integration of data structure, and analysis algorithms are developed according to the assessment processes and verified by field measurements. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved