Most buildings aren’t able to change the daylight or views available in occupied spaces–you’ve either got it or you don’t. Because there’s little opportunity for teams to impact the credit outcome, most projects tend to pursue this credit late in the performance period and only if additional LEED points are needed.

The good news is that it should be relatively easy to get a good sense of whether your project complies or not with either the daylight or views option. Although time consuming, assessing daylight via measurements should be fairly straightforward if you have access to all of the regularly occupied spaces. The views option is a bit more complicated given that the views need to meet at least two of the four available criteria for quality views.

What’s New in LEED v4

• The simulation and prescriptive options for daylighting compliance have been eliminated.
• To satisfy Option 1, you must take daylight measurements at two times of the year.
• USGBC now requires glazing to provide a clear view of the outdoors to count toward views requirements, and view quality is also a component. The glazing does not have to be located between 30 and 90 inches (750 and 2300 mm) above the finished floor.
• Atriums now qualify for up to 30% of the total area.

Readiness Review Questions

• Does a large percentage of regularly occupied space have access to daylight through skylights or clerestories? If so, your team may wish to pursue the daylight measurement compliance path.
• Do at least half of your regularly occupied spaces have access to views? Do views meet the LEED v4 quality requirements? If so, Option 2 might be a good fit for your project.