Evaluating the Effect of Daylighting on Students’ Productivity at Egyptian Universities

Abstract

This research examines the relationship between lighting conditions and student productivity in Egyptian university design studios. While previous studies have relied heavily on subjective measures, this investigation employs a mixed-methods approach that integrates both objective task performance metrics and subjective user responses. The study addresses three primary questions: how daylighting influences productivity compared to artificial lighting, how to effectively measure productivity in educational settings, and whether students show preferences between lighting types. The experimental results reveal that lighting effects are highly context-dependent, moderated significantly by gender and workspace view. Female students demonstrated substantially higher productivity in daylit spaces with courtyard views, while artificial lighting supported better task performance in urban-view settings. The findings indicate that when illumination levels are quantitatively adequate and free from visual discomfort, daylighting and artificial lighting can yield comparable productivity outcomes. This suggests that effective lighting design may depend more on achieving proper light intensity and distribution than on the specific light source. Although most students strongly preferred daylight for its psychological and physiological benefits, this preference did not consistently correlate with higher objective productivity scores. Correlation analysis showed moderate to strong alignment betweenobjective and subjective measures within each lighting type, while daylight and artificial lighting environments demonstrated distinct effects on student performance and perception. The study concludes that effective lighting design requires moving beyond universal solutions to adopt evidence-based, user-centric strategies that account for individual differences and spatial contexts. These findings provide architects and educational planners with empirical evidence for creating learning environments that balance both productivity outcomes and student well-being.