Rethinking Light at Night

 

 
Light is fundamental to our existence. Over 50% of the world’s population lives in cities and the United Nations estimates that by 2050 this figure will rise to 70%. But we are not using our cities and towns to their fullest potential. Night-time presents great challenges to cities around the world.

Rethinking-Light-at-Night-2While more and more people are living in cities, this has not always successfully translated into a ‘24 hour’ city. In many cities there is no strategic planning and design for the nighttime. A holistic approach to urban lighting could create vibrant and safe places for people in cities—at all hours.
We must rethink urban lighting beyond safety or beautification and more as a way of improving the quality of life for people who live in cities “total architecture”, enhance cultural experiences and encourage social interaction.
The integration of smart LEDs in city systems enable lighting that is responsive to specific contexts, while the understanding of the impact of light on human behaviour can help us design more liveable urban environments. We need to find ‘the right kind of light’ for urban environments.
At night, the impression of a city is created through what is lit. Light and art create the atmosphere, whilst shaping the sensorial experiences of our surroundings.
Illumination alters spaces; as a medium, it enables designers to play with shades, color and intensities.
Research shows that lighting can trigger positive behaviour—for example, by inducing a positively balanced mood.
LEDs give us the tools to address complex urban challenges in new ways. Night-time lighting can be more responsive to environmental, social and contextual needs through smart technologies.


light at night4Danpal
. Transforming Light into a Powerful Tool

At Danpal, our customised and easy-to-install range of systems literally transform light – whether natural or artificial – into a powerful and versatile tool, for architectural creations that radiate inside and out. For example, Danpal’s extensive range of lighting offers architects a rich palette to create inspired facades – illuminating the user’s experience with sunlight by day then offering spectacular light walls radiating internal light in the evenings. Danpatherm is a durable, pre-fabricated cassette system integrated with a complete LED lighting system offering artificial lighting for endless design possibilities at night.

 

 

Daylighting Design

 

Daylighting DesignMake space bring out the best from people by providing spaces filled with daylight. Simple design techniques can boost the effectiveness of a building, making the people in it more productive, happier and healthier.  However, good daylighting solutions demand an integrated building design approach. Daylighting design should be more holistic: developing solutions that are part of the main concept, while meeting visual, thermal and energy needs. We should discover how the sun shapes our experience, and apply this lesson to building design from the start.

 Daylighting and Architectural Movements in the Past

The Bauhaus school was responsible for a paradigm shift in the design of buildings and continues to influence designers today. One of the most influential Bauhaus themes is the role of light in shaping interior spaces and manifesting concepts. In Bauhaus thinking, light and transparency signify openness, freedom, democracy, coherence and health. This translates into designs that use a lot of glass, allowing natural light to flow into buildings and connecting the interior to the world outside.
Bauhaus luminaries with a particular interest in light included Hirschfeld-Mack who demonstrated the way coloured light mixed to form white light, and Albers, who used shadow and light to ‘sculpt’ space. László Moholy-Nagy believed that art only acquired meaning when it reflected light. His ideas inspired generations of architects, artists and designers far beyond the Bauhaus and his own lifetime. For example, Le Corbusier believed in the importance of windows as a means of channelling natural light into interior spaces. His fenêtre en longeur, or long horizontal window has become an architectural archetype.


Daylighting DesignSome Daylighting Design Trends Today

  • Greater client awareness of sustainability and the health-related benefits of naturally lit environments
  • Natural light is perceived to be as important as internal useable square footage, leading to more exciting spaces with interconnecting vertical connections
  • Technological advances in thermally efficient thin-framed glazing, allow architects to explore a greater variety of envelopes and apertures
  • The intrusion of solid framing elements has been reduced, allowing for purer sculptural forms

 

The Most Effective Strategies for Engaging Natural Light

  • Carefully consider how light enters, illuminates and animates a building and the physiological effect it can have on the occupants of each space.
  • Take inspiration from natural light in nature and art, and keep returning to natural light in sacred architecture.
  • Start by exploring the different ways to get natural light into a building and balance these with functional and spatial requirements.
  • Consider the materials of each element and how the light will play across them, and they add to the visual understanding of the building.

 

Daylighting DesignThe Danpal Approach to Daylighting

At Danpal, we believe that well-designed buildings should offer as much natural daylight as possible while still maintaining a comfortable internal environment.
Danpal® offers a brilliant range of daylight harnessing architectural solutions designed for building envelopes. Danpal provides the right tools for planning the most effective light openings – by integrating appropriate products which exploit the optimal level of energy resources.
A visionary in architectural technologies, Danpal® was the first company to develop the Danpalon® translucent panel standing seam system. For over three decades, Danpal’s® systems have been used around the world in architectural projects spanning commercial, education, transport, health, sports and high-tech industries.
By using state-of-the-art software, Danpal provides lighting and solar energy simulations, ensuring the optimal planning of daylighting. Danpal is unique in offering simulation solutions – reflecting its 30 year heritage as a specialist in daylight architectural innovation.

The Benefits of Natural Daylight

 
The Benefits of Natural Daylight

Daylight is essential. For those living in cold climates, the beneficial effect of sunlight is easy to recognize; sunny days make people happier. Research shows that suicide rates are considerably higher in countries where daylight is very limited for significant parts of the year. Research suggests that buildings with high levels of natural light are more successful than those with more artificial light. In all environments, our bodies respond better to natural light, enabling us to perform better, while passive solar gain can reduce energy costs.
Daylight is essential for sustainable urban development and is an important consideration when designing buildings and shaping cities. Making more use of daylight can help significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings.

Health

Daylight is vital to our health. It triggers our circadian rhythms, contributing to our health and well-being. SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder is a clinically diagnosed condition in which the lack of sunlight in winter makes people feel ill. Natural light helps people to feel better and can aid the healing process. In hospitals, the recovery rate of patients is accelerated where levels of natural light are increased.

Education

Research demonstrates a clear correlation between classrooms with good natural light and improved student performance and attendance. Children concentrate better in natural light and are more focused and less distracted. The more light, the healthier they are, with improved attendance at school.

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Recreation

People like bright naturally lit environments, and therefore conservatories and sunroom are so popular. People prefer leisure facilities enjoying high levels of daylight. Most sporting and recreational facilities today try to maximise natural daylight.

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Business

As daylight improves concentration, working environments with natural light tend to achieve increased productivity. Sales tend to be better in naturally lit shops; colors are more vivid, making goods more attractive and encouraging shoppers to spend more time in these areas. Leading retail organisations include large areas of rooflights, ensuring a high percentage of evenly distributed natural light in the interior.

The Danpal Approach

At Danpal®, we believe that well-designed buildings should offer as much natural daylight as possible while still maintaining a comfortable internal environment.
Danpal systems assure balanced thermal comfort, while their translucency ensures comfortably even light diffusion.
Danpal® offers a brilliant range of daylight harnessing architectural solutions designed for building envelopes.
Danpal provides the right tools for planning the most effective light openings – by integrating appropriate products which exploit the optimal level of energy resources.

 

Lighting and Health

Why Light is Like a Drug

A growing body of research shows that lighting has a highly significant effect on our bodies and minds.  Light has a strong influence on our body clocks because we’ve spent almost our entire evolution living by the light of the sun.

Special receptors in our eyes react to the blue content in daylight, see it decreasing as the day goes on, and prepare us for activity or rest. Our daily cycle takes its cues from the rising and setting of the sun. Artificial lights don’t send the right cues to keep our daily rhythms in check. The results of too much artificial light can be dramatic – poor lighting can contribute to depression (in winter), weight gain, lower productivity, and can increase the risk of other health problems. Deprived of the cues provided by daylight, the body clocks of some astronauts fall out of sync with actual daily rhythms.

Lighting and HealthOn the other hand, research has shown that hospital patients in sunnier rooms stay for shorter periods, feel less stress and even use less pain medication.

Our understanding of the biological effects of light has grown at the same time as LEDs and lighting controls – technologies that tune the colour and intensity of light during the day to match our circadian rhythms. Philips, Osram and Fagerhult have researched this field and developed dynamic lighting solutions for homes, schools, offices, hospitals and aeroplanes.

The priorities of lighting manufacturers and designers are changing. Initially safety and practicality were most important, then energy, followed by sustainability. The next level is about human health and productivity. Beyond energy efficiency, if you can improve the productivity of people, the potential is huge. However, there are currently few solutions that successfully combine a clear understanding of the physiological effects of light with both aesthetics and efficiency.

Employers want employees to be alert and therefore, bright, intense lighting is key. Research shows that exposure to more intense light increases employees’ feelings of alertness and decreases tiredness. Scientists have not yet agreed on what is the right level of intensity needed to create an alert workplace.

Lighting and HealthThe Optimal Daylighting Strategy

Daylighting uses natural daylight as a substitute for electrical lighting. The best strategy is to use daylight for basic ambient light levels while giving occupants additional lighting options.  One should also illuminate the building space without subjecting occupants to glare or too radical variations in light levels. Comfort and satisfaction are important because they correlate positively with personal and team performance.

A successful daylighting design factors in taming glare and solar heat gain. The right balance can be achieved through using active daylighting control strategies, like automated shades, and passive strategies, such as louvers. These technologies mitigate the dynamic movement of direct sunlight and bring diffuse daylight into the space.

Danpal – The Architecture of Light

When it comes to architectural lighting, finding the equilibrium is key. Excess light results in undesired glare and intolerable ambient heat. Well-designed buildings offer as much natural daylight as possible while still maintaining a comfortable internal environment. Danpal uses materials with superior flexibility, transparency, tonal qualities and insulating properties. Danpal systems assure balanced thermal comfort, while their translucency ensures comfortably even light diffusion.

Danpal provides the right tools for planning the most effective light openings – by integrating appropriate products, which exploit the optimal level of energy resources – anywhere in the world, any time of day.

By using state-of-the-art software, Danpal provides lighting and solar energy simulations. Danpal is unique in offering simulation solutions – reflecting its 30 year heritage as a specialist in daylight architectural innovation.