I am a scientist and educator, interested in various aspects of building energy and lighting. I have recently found love for Rhino Grasshopper, Python, and Non-Image-Forming effects of light. I try to club all three in my work on algorithmic modeling.
My love for capturing and processing light goes beyond research, and I have been fascinated with experimental photography for quite a long time.
Extended IntroductionAt UCLouvain, I work at Architecture et Climat, associated with LAB/ LOCI; and my research project is promoted by Prof Sergio Altomonte.
I have formerly served as Assistant Professor and Chair for MTech program in Building Energy Performance at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India (Feb 2019-Jun 2020). I have also worked as consultant/advisor for Energy Lab at IIHS Bangalore, India, as part of Solar Decathlon India initiative, where I helped develop content for Self Learning Modules to the participating students. I hold an integrated MSc-PhD degree in Energy Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay, India. My PhD thesis was titled "Assessment of Sky Luminance for Indoor Daylight Modeling." (2018)
My research interests include measurement, mathematical modeling and computational simulation of various aspects of building lighting and daylighting, aimed at enhancing a building's design from its energy performance perspective. Specifically, I am interested in understanding the visual and non visual effects of lighting, towards an occupants productivity, health and well-being. My other passions include photography, filmmaking, and cameras in general; and the domain of my research has a natural convergence with my passion for capturing light.
At present, I hold three international publications in Q1 journals (+ two in the pipeline), have participated in seven international conferences (+ three in the works), have guided 5 students as thesis advisor, have filed for one patent, and serve in two international committees (+ third upcoming), and have been awarded multiple accolades in both - research and filmmaking competitions at various levels. In addition to guiding thesis students, I have also mentored budding filmmakers at various competitions. For additional information, my resume can be found here.
My latest project is called OWL (Occupant Wellbeing through Lighting).
OWL is a tool built for designers, to evaluate the Non Image Forming metrics of Light.
These metrics are indicators of the non-visual effects of light on Occupant's wellbeing -- through regulation of body clock.
OWL works with Rhino + Grasshopper + Radiance + Python (Numpy+Scipy+...) and is peer reviewed in Energy and Buildings.
More details about OWL are available on its dedicated website.
Other research, as well as personal projects that I am proud of, are listed below.
This tool for emulating and visualising CIE standard skies is available here.
The development process of this tool is published here.
A tool for post-processing HDR images, inspired by HDRScope, is available here.
RaspberryPi + fisheye camera + custom Python code was used to generate HDR images.
Frequency of occurence of CIE skies was evaluated using data from skyscanners, and is published here.
An ARSandbox was built for summer exhibition 2019 at CEPT University.
Email is obviously preferred -- or you could find me on ORCID/Google Scholar/Researchgate; but I would be glad to connect with you via social media as well.
Here are my social media handles: