Efficient daylighting and solar control strategies can have a tremendous impact on energy use. But any savings can only be effective if one also carefully accounts for our comfort, well-being and health criteria. This talk will explore current research efforts at the interface between architecture and building technology, with a focus on the integration of building performance in design especially as far as daylighting and passive solar strategies are concerned. We need more efforts to provide building designers with the means necessary to assess critical parameters in a successful design and efficiently combine qualitative and quantitative criteria in the solution search process. This must be approached from two perspectives: from what we have and from what we need. We of course must analyse the resources available to work with (i.e. the building’s environment whether natural and/or built, its localisation, climate etc) and process this information to inform us about how the building should respond to it; but first, we have to identify the needs of the building’s occupants, to determine whether and how these can be met. Taking the perspective of ongoing research in these fields, this talk will more specifically explore the impact of natural lighting contributions on occupants well-being, notably from their health and biological clock perspective, as well as the perceived visual and thermal comfort, which are considerations that should be at the heart of human acceptable habitats whether on earth or in enclosed conditions further away. The recurring questions one has to address in any of these contexts is how to best balance the ressources we have available (solar radiation, energy, climate, natural or built surroundings) to fulfill, at minimum and beyond, the occupants’ needs.