Daylight as Basis for Design “A Romp through the History of Daylighting” Rick Ames Next Phase Studios Architects

with the assistance of Carlos Fernandez A Project of the Building Enclosure Council, Boston March 2012

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A single family home designed and built by the Jersey Devils in a beautiful, incredibly harsh environment Baja Coastal desert. All of the materials were locally sourced, harvested/mined and fabricated with very few exceptions.

The large, hollow wings define the form and design of the building while providing a ventilated air space, and sloped surfaces to send rain into the cisterns

They also create a wide brim that provides shade that is so crucial in that climate, yet allow for significant openings below

This reinforces a free connection to the landscape and allows dramatic indirect daylight to enter the home

These protected openings allow for the interior spaces to flow seamlessly out in good weather or to be framed openings for daylight when need be.

The importance is that the architectural form, detailing and daylight performance all are integrated into the concept and utility of the architecture

Another powerful single family home by the Jersey Devils where the daylighting and environmental performance are fully integrated into the architecture and conceptual design.

The significant solar orientation is protected by a wide overhang and interior shading devices that are adjustable.

The open floor plan, high ceilings, diffuse transoms and depth of the window wall all allow for significant daylight harvesting, yet with a range of controls and shading methods integrated into the architecture and detailing.

The house is fully earth sheltered in plan and concept, and protected from the highly exposed site conditions, yet is flooded with daylight.

The gentle cross section is defined by the hillside it caps, and what could have been a prominent blight to the surroundings is hardly detectable from below.

The "rear" of the house is defined by intimate, small scale spaces with indirect light that is very different from the broad exposure to the exposed side. The integration of daylight into the overall concept makes it the prominent Basis for Design

The following presentation is that Daylight has been an integral and important aspect of the design and technology of our built environment. From our earliest shelters the need and experience of daylight has been defining of our structures

The simplest of openings, often flexible in function straddled between protection from the elements to daylight and the connection to the environs around us.

Some of the most important buildings in history, such the Pantheon, have understood how controlled use of daylight required minimal light if presented well .

DF = 5.4%

LEED “DF” = 5.4%

Often the entire form and design would be about how this daylight was presented.

While daylight was always included for function reasons, the power and spiritual input from thoughtful daylight design highlight not only the architecture, but also the character of space and the experience were utilized to powerful effect.

Across cultures there is a an understanding of daylight and the human experience, and the many ways it can be controlled and exposure, protection and orientation have been integral to vernacular design and traditional building methods.

What could have been a simple fence or shade becomes an elaborate screen, filtering light and creating privacy all while developing a an architecture and streetscape that is rich in detail and distinctive culturally

This seamlessly integrates a way of building, of carpentry and joinery with a design aesthetic that is the nuanced understanding of daylight and the ranges of lighting and privacy that humans need to thrive.

The history of daylighting is also the history of building technology, but in particular the legacy of glass.. It is a material that has incredible range and science into it's advancement

The material's fabrication limitations and expense often led to interesting design solutions that surmount these constraints in ways that ultimately enhance the daylight.

The glassier was considered a sophisticated trade, with an elaborate guild structure and technical prowess integrated with design

Elaborate manufacturing techniques were developed and regional characteristics and innovations fiercely guarded

Elaborate manufacturing techniques were developed and regional characteristics and innovations fiercely guarded

Elaborate manufacturing techniques were developed and regional characteristics and innovations fiercely guarded

Elaborate manufacturing techniques were developed and regional characteristics and innovations fiercely guarded

Religious institutions employed the finest craftsmen and were the pinnacle of design and construction technology throughout history.

This was also true of daylighting techniques and the glass arts.

While structural systems advanced, and heroic efforts become possible, it was always linked to daylighting and the human experience that it defined

This even began to utilize mirrors to manipulate space and light. While artificial lighting was a requirement for expanding functionality, the understanding of daylighting was what defined architectural space.

One of the early theoretical masters of indirect and elaborate daylighting, Sir John Soane turned his house into a laboratory for exploring daylight and how it is introduced and defines space

The technology of glass allowed for the outside to become indoors, protected. What had been street vendors became elaborate marketplaces to support urban growth

The technology became so advanced that it was used for elaborate exhibition halls as the shift in our temples from religion to commerce and technical achievements.

Humans could now encase the outdoors in glass and change the environment to grow plants and foods from around the shrinking planet. Seasons could be denied, and daylight became ever more affordable and manageable.

The utilitarian use of daylight was most profound in the rise of industry. As machines, workers and manufacturing advanced, the buildings and infrastructure needed to keep pace.

Buildings were planned with how to deliver daylight to the workers operations, with the width of the buildings and size of the openings coordinated to the tasks and lighting required.

Elaborate complexes were developed with access to power (rivers), but in building forms and scales that allowed for significant daylighting for operations. Notice in the aerial how the development of the supremacy of artificial lighting can be seen the scale and floor plates of the 20th century structures.

The technology of daylighting kept pace with industrialization, with lighting techniques being integrated into the forms and design of the most utilitarian of buildings

The result was often flexible space, beautifully light that has become enviable and sought after.

As the urban centers became dense, crowded, and ever more dark and polluted, the realization that fresh air and daylight were essential to the betterment for the human condition became a social imperative.

Elaborate parks, hotels, cottages and campgrounds were developed to give people opportunities to be exposed to light and air, regardless of economic status. Like plants, it became clear that daylight was essential to human health

Even farm barns became elaborate experiments in building and daylighting

While calculated advancements in structure showed technical prowess, integrated in was daylighting for operations, but also comfort and architectural definition.

While calculated advancements in structure showed technical prowess, integrated in was daylighting for operations, but also comfort and architectural definition.

The technical abilities to fabricate ever larger panels of glass advanced faster than the structural and enclosure systems to support them. The limits on designing with glass were fast becoming the conceptual limitations on the possible applications

This was about to change. As cities rapidly expanded at the turn of 20th Century, building technology started to quickly enter a new era. Transportation Centers, grand central terminals were constructed, often with extremely traditional and elaborate Civic facades.

But these were coordinated with a very advanced transportation and structural systems. Here at Penn station the formal stone façade gave way to a temple of light an d air enclosed in glass, flooded with daylight.

.While glass technology allowed for visionary possibilities, it was still being installed in traditional forms and "punched hole" windows even as the workplace changed. While a very handsome building by H.H. Richardson, the concept for a bearing masonry wall with openings is not even as avant garde cathedrals 500 years older.

The leaps in technology in just a few years in Steel construction, operational elevators and mechanical systems allowed a rapid transformation in the height and how we conceived of the "skins" of our buildings

But while technology allowed for ever easier artificial lighting and unimaginable possibilities, the preeminent "modern" designers still defined their architecture with daylight. Even the Larkin Building by Wright, a temple to modern commerce traded technology for daylight

The interior was flooded with daylight and the concept of offices around a centrally lighted atrium was introduced.

While a powerful architectural icon, the buildings form and design concept always responded to creating a range and extensive dalighting to the work spaces.

Wright pursued the integration of daylight and architectural form throughout his career, with the Johnson Wax Building being a tour de force in pushing the possibilities for technically and formally introducing daylight. Continuous ribbon windows, all glass curtainwall, punched openings and skylights brought daylight to even the most mundane spaces and corridors.

And then there was the forest of concrete structural trees with infill skylights that made the office feel like working in a forest, complete with the occasional dousing from rain. But the integration of the architecture, structure and human experience were all masterfully defined by light.

Wright continued this conceptual integration of light and form throughout his career, in all building types. T

o look at his dramatic architectural expressions is always limited until one experiences the complete integration of the spaces, functions and character of light.

Le Corbusier and other masters of the nascent modernist movement understood that in defining architecture, form and function, even with the removal of technical limitations, daylight was the basis for good design

How form, space and experience were defined was always in the context of light and the vast range of experiences and opportunities it could create

Even when executing a simple child's bedroom, privacy and function were integrated into the design and details

As new technologies in daily living advanced, and new building types developed architecture celebrated these seemingly unimaginable advancements. And as the technical limitations diminished, the understanding of daylight in design was integral

Even temples to the new era like the TWA terminal were defined by daylight to understand the forms and concepts

Heroic technology was employed to give form to the structures, yet the experience is serene even as revolutionary air travel is being celebrated.

The integration of artificial lighting in the hands of strong designers complimented and responded to these dramatic opportunities in ways that reinforced, but also complemented the daylighting

But even in rather modest efforts, the understanding of daylight, architectural expression and the human experience could define the conceptual design of important spaces.

The strong designers would understand and integrate daylight from the first concepts all the way through even experimental details and subtle use of moving light and reflections.

The power of the experience, and creative understanding of daylight led to incredibly powerful results, independent of scale. Now the use of artificial light could be used augment and compliment the strong daylight experiences

Louis Kahn was another mid-century modernist who charted his own path, but consistently engaged sunlight as the defining force behind his work. He frequently employed the whole range of daylight methods: direct, indirect, reflected, accent, all in the same project.

While often simple and rigorous in form and plan, the work was always rich in detail and spatial experience.

While more formal in design then many contemporaries, the daylight was always integrated in subtle and varied ways. The processional movement of spaces is achieved by a transformative interplay between physical space and light

Even from remote, almost unperceived origins, natural light would highlight the spaces and forms to engage and move you through the spaces.

And the understanding went far beyond the large scale, to the simple elements that you touch and utilize everyday. Here the reading carrels are simply lit from transoms above, but an operable panel allows controlled direct lighting to be introduced

At the Kimball Art Museum, Kahn used almost a singular structural, formal and experiential architectural element to define the entire design. The nuanced tension between the simple, unknown source of light and the strength of the form is defining of the building

The simple, yet heroic structure is gently lit from above, combined with the strong directionality of the form, to create the experience of moving through spaces, very similar to the old Civic Markets

And while some examples of the soon to be dominant "International Style", such as the Seagram’s building here, were interesting designs, the notion that a "style" could be universal anywhere on the planet, and that technology would allow us to do so "comfortably" was now producing millions of repetitive square feet of building world wide.

These large floor plate constructions were dependant on A/C and expanses of fluorescent lighting to allow dense occupation. The envelope was inoperable, and the orientation was irrelevant. The identity of either the structure or the occupants quickly began to feel completely anonymous and to be called into question. The optimism of the potential for technology to elevate us all gave way to the cynicism of the cubicle office and the world of Dilbert.

But starting in the post war era, a few designers started to reflect on the use of natural systems to light and heat buildings again. While the belief that energy was infinite was developing in the mainstream design industry, some thought that technology could now be used to improve and advance traditional means of ventilation, heating/cooling and lighting

These were usually single family houses, and often "experiments" that the designers would undertake on their own homes. While they predated the "back to the earth" movement that would follow 30 years and a generation later, much of the environmental and humanistic concerns about state of design in the industrialized world was being vocalized.

Technology made analyzing and calculating these effects readily available to designers and lay people alike.Rather simple calculations could be made for predicting shade and exposure and a range of means to control it.

Technology made analyzing and calculating these effects readily available to designers and lay people alike. Rather simple calculations could be made for predicting shade and exposure and a range of means to control it.

The seemingly limitless abilities for structural technology continued to advance under the guidance of the strong designers hand. The ability to conceptually integrate and define architecture, form and experience with daylight was alive and active especially in religious and cultural buildings.

But these same designers, trained under the "Modernist Masters" were applying daylighting design and integration into a wide range of buildings from housing to schools. Even the work place design of the large floor plate was being challenged with human scale, daylit facilities that easily conveyed a stronger message of modernity and productivity, yet with a humanism and orientation that nurtured the individual and experience of all

These buildings actively engaged direct, indirect, reflective and hidden sources of daylight to accommodate the wide range of human needs and activities. The differences between these designs, and the ever expanding fluorescent lit floor plate became extreme.

Even social and affordable housing was seen as needing active daylighting to be humane and long-term successful. Again, technology allowed for a range of methods to be employed, yet the association with overall envelope and energy performance was not understood or integrated.

The design experience and character of these spaces was transformational, yet the energy consumption associated was not managed.

These daylit techniques ranged from simple windows, transoms and skylights to more advanced, whole building systems that were reminiscent of the glass roofs Wright was after at the Johnson Wax facility forty years earlier.

They ranged from the intimate room scale to efforts to enclose entire streetscapes. While related to the utopian optimism of the "international Style" that anything was possible and technology would solve all human issues. These designs were very site specific and always had an understanding of orientation and the passage of time defined by the sun.