Quantifying window view quality: A review on view perception assessment and representation methods

Views provided by windows are key factors that affect occupants' overall psychological and physiological comfort inside buildings. Despite their importance, there are no established approaches and regulations to guide designers and researchers in investigating view perception. This paper systemically reviews studies on view perception in terms of quality and quantity factors affecting view perception (i.e., content-related factors, design related factors including window's shape and size, shading devices, mullions, and partitions, dynamic changes views based on observer-related factors, and view size) and discuss views impact on other visual (i.e., glare) and non-visual (i.e., privacy and thermal comfort) perceptions. In addition, the notion of view quality and quantity discussed. Furthermore, methods used to visually represent views from windows, and methods used to quantify view perception subjectively and objectively are critically reviewed. As a result, knowledge gaps were identified for future studies in relation to view quality assessment and experimental design; and an all-inclusive compre-hensive approach to quantify view quality using subjective and objective assessments along with an adequate representation method is proposed.

Automated summary

This paper systematically reviews studies on view perception and discusses the factors affecting view perception, as well as the impact of views on other visual and non-visual perceptions. The paper also critically reviews methods used to visually represent views and quantify view perception. An all-inclusive approach to quantify view quality is proposed.