Daylighting Past, Present, Future

Daylighting, a new term for an old practice, simply means managing natural light in a building, both by bringing light into the building and by keeping it out when it is not wanted. It is associated with recent efforts to make efficient use of materials and energy.

The history of architecture can be seen as a progression to lighter construction with longer clear spans. In early times, the problem was getting enough light into the building. As material and construction technology have advanced, especially in the last century, the problem evolved to controlling daylight. The 1960s and 70s brought site-specific passive solar design, which was not widely adopted.  The relatively recent goal of constructing carbon-neutral buildings has inspired a range of new thinking, and made what was previously seen as the fringe of design acceptable and desirable. 

This page shows some interesting and noteworthy examples from a vast pool of past, present, and future ideas.  Along with functionality, our focus is on beauty in the built environment.

"When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." R. Buckminster Fuller