Day lighting

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Singapore, 10^th November 2014

It sounds a bit like moonlighting and quite honestly I still feel that anything to do with day lighting is still a bit off the beaten track, like something you do on the side as an extra on top of your daily work. Of course it should be an integral part of our thinking but most of the time when we get involved this part is already “thought through” by the architect, but it is rare to see an architect thinking this through to an extend that they really think of conducting and manipulating natural lighting into the buildings.

I met with one of my suppliers today who also represents Alanod a company we all know for its high quality reflective and optical materials. In their attempts to avoid a Kodak moment for their company they have moved into the harvesting of day and sun light and developed products for the same. In cooperation with Bartenbach light studios, so it appears they are developing light shelves, light blades, daylight louvres, building reflection materials, heliostats, skylights and light collectors (some towards energy production).

It particularly interest me as this is one of the areas hot-listed as a future growth and need area. There is no doubt in any one’s mind that harvesting of natural daylight is key to future sustainability and management of our natural resources. Enormous R+D or innovation and lifestyle developments as someone mentioned it to me the other day, are being undertaken to find commercially viable ways to do this. Many of these systems still have a very hefty price tag attached to it leaving it out of reach for many. That is why it is important for people like ourselves, specialists in lighting, to get involved at the earliest possible stages where we can collaborate with the architect and end user to achieve the best possible outcome, affordable and value for money.

Light Watch 5-191: I generally do not promote specific product brands for wanting to remain objective and professionally neutral, but at times I do need to mention names. In this I am using some extracts from the Alanod brochure.