Daylight, as a design theme, is fundamental in architecture for creating a sustainable and healthy living environment. It is key to providing a congenial atmosphere, which can manipulate the way that interior space is perceived and experienced. However, due to the high cloud coverage, synonymous with dark and gloomy sky conditions in overcast locations like Scotland, decisions on façade fenestration design and the subsequent use of artificial lighting are mostly geared towards providing sufficient interior illuminance, without addressing the crucial influence of façade fenestration on daylighting and occupants’ attitudes towards the aesthetic and emotional domains of atmosphere.

From this perspective, this study investigates the relationship between façade fenestration, daylight levels and the experienced atmosphere under overcast sky conditions within various façade windows and spatial typologies of design studios. Three Scottish cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, were carefully chosen as research vehicles for this investigation. The thesis attempts to deal with two research questions: How does façade fenestration design affect the daylight levels in different studios typologies under overcast sky conditions? And what is the impact of façade fenestration and the resultant daylight levels on the experienced atmosphere?
A longitudinal research design was adopted for this study. Therefore, the research methodology is largely experimental, and thus empirical in nature. It involves quantitative data measurements, namely façade fenestration, daylighting levels and distribution inside the design studios. These ‘objective’ data sets are then supplemented by a closed-ended questionnaire to measure user attitudes toward façade fenestration, daylighting and atmospheric ambiance inside the studios. The objective data sets were correlated with the subjective ones to compute and determine the ‘strength’ of the relationships between variables.

The results revealed that studios with a window-to-floor area ratio of over 20%, yielded well-illuminance levels, considered to be between 500-750 lux, except for zones under the mezzanine level, where illuminance registered less than 200 lux. Furthermore, the results unexpectedly revealed that spaciousness, furniture arrangements and proximity were the stimuli contributing most to the experienced atmosphere inside the studios. However, a weak association was identified between the characteristics of façade fenestration, daylight attributes and atmospheric factors. Consequently, one could argue that the objective factors could be considered poor predictors for the subjective well-being of occupants. The outcome of this thesis presents an important contribution to the understanding of the relationship between façade fenestration, daylighting and experienced atmosphere inside design studios, both from numerical and subjective perspectives.