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FFDM’s Boulevard Collection is featured here in a room that’s flooded with natural sunlight.
Every homeowner should make it a point to use daylight to light their home. It is a great way to jump start your decision to go green and to provide comfort to all the occupants of a home. This natural light should be bright enough to penetrate the entire building.
The sun is able to deliver a huge amount of light to the world, each day. The light emanating from the moon is about 10,000 foot-candles (gauge for light’s intensity). Glass or clouds come with filtering effects that can cut down the brightness of the sun’s light by 50-90%. Still, having 1,000 to 5,000 foot-candles provides ample illumination. It is now up to you to harness this great amount of light by knowing how to place windows or what materials to use inside of your home.
The daylighting design requirements should have balanced privacy and a picturesque view. It must be considered alongside the building layout, orientation and location.
You should consider using diffused light in the absence of direct sunlight. This requires proper planning and window placement. Even the size of the windows should be carefully thought through. Do not overglaze as it could cause glaring. It can also let in too much heat during the summer and lose heat during the wintry months.
Daylight Sources
Solar gain and direct light can be provided by sunlight. Should the sky be overcast, know that solar gain is decreased yet the sky dome will continue to provide light.
The correct placement of mirrors and glass-surface furnishings will also provide daylight. External reflection from adjacent buildings or light shelves can also offer additional lighting. Yet again, be careful that there isn’t too much reflectance as this can cause glaring.
Light-colored mirrors and finishes can also reflect the lighting sources already found inside the rooms.
Upping Daylight Penetration
Remember this – the daylight will have a deeper hue the higher the window head placement is. A single window can offer illumination up to a depth of 1 ½ times the height of the window head. This means that upping the window height also increases the penetration of light.
Hooker Furniture Accents Floor Mirror with Hidden Jewelry Storage effectively reflects daylight from the outdoors.
Interior Daylighting Achieved
Make good use of gloss finishes, mirrors, light colors and other reflective finishes. Sills, jambs and window frames can be painted in lighter colors. Be sure to angle or splay the deep set windows towards the interior of your home.
The floors may not contribute much when it comes to giving off reflections especially when it comes in a dark color. Make it a point to install light-colored flooring material if you want to increase the light levels in your home.
Having interior walls that disperse light is a great solution. These walls can gather indirect light coming from a brightly-lit adjacent room and even capitalize on the reflective surfaces of certain furnishings. Clear glass can transmit a huge amount of light to the adjacent rooms.
Position mirrors at eye level.
Glass can be acid-etched or sandblasted. It may also be laminated or textured. Plastic interlayer is used in laminated glass. It offers the same effect as that of the sandblasted type minus the marking. Applied films can be considered, too.
Full-length glass walls can also offer auditory privacy. Perceived room dimensions are naturally upped as the borrowed light concept is utilized. This is also useful in spaces with constraints on their floor area.
Having white-painted walls or using neutral colors would work well in having borrowed light inside your home. Use translucent materials to absorb, reflect or scatter light. Diffused lighting contributes to the comfort inside a home as it also limits eyestrain.
May these daylighting tips help you properly and amply light your home. Add a sky dome, light tubes, or a luminous shower, it’s up to you.
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