Anna Nilson wins Lund's Byggmästareklubbs scholarship for best thesis work

Anna Nilson, an architect at FOJAB arkitekter, has been awarded the Lund Byggmästareklubbs scholarship for her degree project "Dagens ljus". The work, which is a study of the impact of environmental certification systems on architecture, was carried out in collaboration with FOJAB arkitekter during Anna's final year of the Architecture program at Lund University of Technology.

The thesis dealt with commonly used environmental certification systems' daylight requirements and how they affect architecture and users. Anna Nilson divided the thesis into three different parts. In a first step, the quantitative and qualitative parameters of existing environmentally certified buildings were studied. In addition to looking at measurable properties such as glass areas, Anna also examined users' experiences of the rooms and daylight.

- Users experience rooms and daylight very differently, but what the majority in my study had in common was a desire to be able to influence their own environment. They want to be able to close the curtains, control the blinds and open their windows, which is often limited in an environmentally certified building," says Anna Nilson.

The study of existing, environmentally certified buildings was followed by a study of a planned, non-certified preschool and what efforts would be required to meet the daylight requirements of three different certification systems: Miljöbyggnad, LEED and BREEAM. Based on insights and knowledge from these two studies, Anna also carried out a design project of an environmentally certified preschool with a planned location in Kalkbrottet in Malmö.

- The Lund Master Builder's Club grant is proof that my study of daylight in architecture is relevant and important to the construction industry. I use this knowledge in many of my current projects as an architect at FOJAB arkitekter. We face challenges related to daylight; the focus in urban planning is often on densification, which in many cases limits access to daylight. To achieve optimal daylight in new production in the dense city, it is necessary to work creatively with daylight and the requirements of the certification systems from the start of the project, says Anna Nilson.

The Lund Byggmästarklubbs scholarship is awarded to degree projects that can be of particular benefit to the construction industry. Anna Nilson's degree project was completed in the fall semester 2015, and has now been awarded the scholarship for 2015/2016.