Window view quality in buildings: state of art and future developments

Access to daylight and views of the outdoors are severely restricted in buildings due to the population rise and corresponding increase in density in metropolitan areas. Nowadays, a high-quality window view is essential in people's indoor lives. Due to access to windows and associated views, the literature review suggested focusing primarily on the view concept and only secondarily on daylight exposure. In addition, the result underlined that daylight generally presents ambient levels of interior daylight illumination. Papers, standards, and guidelines focused on the challenges in building performance with the evaluation of view quality were reviewed to determine: i) the principal aspects and elements affecting the view quality, ii) parameters and indexes used to assess window view, iii) set up used to perform investigations on view quality, as well as iv) methods followed to analyze window view from objective and subjective points of view. The results of this review aim to highlight state-of-the-art and critical needs in research, tools, and methodologies that, if satisfied, may enable a more effective estimation of the view quality in buildings. Finally, future challenges and developments related to view are provided.