Adam Heisserer

Computational design, data, and architecture.

Quality Views Analysis

These are two complementary views analyses to determine the quality of views in a building:

  • View Multiplicity: The number of openings visible from each point
  • View Width: The total horizontal angle of glazing visible from each point
Two isovist maps showing view multiplicity and width across a building’s floor plan, computed in Python from Rhino.

This is a recent update to a process I used for LEED and WELL views analysis. The new version runs entirely in Python rather than Grasshopper, reads Rhino files, and outputs these two analyses in a few minutes.

Isovist map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with blue intensity indicating number of visible openings.

View Multiplicity

The script identifies each window opening on the perimeter of the floor plan, and computes the isovist (field of view from that point) at every 12" across each opening. These are then merged into a single isovist per opening.

Isovist analysis of view multiplicity across a floor plan, showing how views overlap as window points increase.

All isovists are stacked into one drawing.

View Width

View Width describes how much glazing is visible from each point on a 24" grid, measured as an angle at horizontal eye-level. This scale is fixed (0° to 120°+) on every plan.

Isovist map showing horizontal glazing angle from each point, with darker blue indicating wider views.

These two criteria quantify the quality of views better than a pass/fail percentage.

Other Notes

  • Isovists come from CGAL (the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library) through the pyvispoly package.
  • It runs in batches. About a minute or two for most of these plans.
  • I added some shadow blur along the walls and a noise filter.
  • It could run through Rhino.Inside.Revit, or in Rhino 8's script editor
  • The process could be altered to analyze view content (nature, distance, landmarks) for LEED v4.1 Quality Views and WELL v2 (feature M09, Enhanced Access to Nature)
  • These plans don't exclude non-regularly-occupied areas, and probably aren't strictly accurate. (Missing solid doors, and such. Just for demonstration.
Isovist map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with blue intensity indicating number of visible openings.
Heat map of horizontal glazing angles across a floor plan, with darker blue showing wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing number of visible openings across a floor plan for view quality analysis.
Heat map of horizontal glazing angles across a floor plan, darker blue indicating wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with darker areas indicating more visible openings.
Blue intensity map showing horizontal glazing visibility across a floor plan, with darker tones indicating wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating more visible openings.
Blue intensity map showing horizontal glazing visibility across a floor plan, with darker tones indicating wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with darker areas indicating more visible openings.
Blue intensity map showing horizontal glazing visibility across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating more visible openings.
Blue intensity map showing horizontal glazing visibility across a floor plan, with darker areas indicating wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating more visible openings.
Blue intensity map showing horizontal glazing visibility across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating wider viewing angles.
Blue intensity map showing view multiplicity across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating more visible openings.
Blue intensity map showing horizontal glazing visibility across a floor plan, with darker zones indicating wider viewing angles.