Today, buildings still account for almost half of the global energy consumption and carbon emission. This highlights the necessity to increase energy efficiency requirements worldwide in a common effort to reduce the construction sector's impacts on the environment. The current energy policies are driving toward a design that relies on airtight and highly insulated envelopes. As a consequence, energy efficient houses are found to have insufficient indoor air change rates, impacting on the indoor air quality and resulting in higher latent loads.

This paper aims to review the achievements of previous studies addressing the capability of atriums for providing adequate levels of daylight and visual comfort. This study also performs several simulations using Radiance IES-VE software predominantly with the target to support the literature review results. The analysis discusses ways of daylight transmission through different atrium structures.

The white paper puts forward recommendations for the coordinated enhancement of policies, codes, and regulations. It lay out a framework for guidance for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and the Review Committees of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for the National Building Code (NBC), to harmonise their actions for healthy affordable housing in urban areas.