Design with Daylighting  

The term Daylighting is fairly new to the contemporary design world, but has been part of architectural design for centuries. Think of the hundreds of arches found in the Colosseum or the rows of clerestory windows placed in the first basilicas. Ancient Romans employed these architectural elements to allow natural light into an otherwise fortified structure. In today’s construction industry, manufacturers and contractors can provide homes with several modern options for daylighting, saving homeowners money and reducing their overall energy consumption.

The reality is there are thousands of homes that are simply not designed to utilize daylight which results in pitch black bathrooms and closets or dimly lit bedrooms and hallways. These common designs increase the need to bring in artificial lighting. During the building boom in San Diego, electricity was cheap and architectural design often chose light fixtures over natural lighting options. As power costs continued to rise and access to electricity became a challenge to our growing population, companies began to seek better, more environmentally friendly methods of providing power, unfortunately, these came at a higher cost to consumers. Attention then shifted to lowering electrical bills and with that we saw the birth of the CFL and a surge in residential solar panel installations. While some consumers benefitted from these technologies, across the board, we were still widely dependent on the delivery of energy to our homes.

When looking to remodel or upgrade your home, any Construction Consultant would be doing you a disservice if they did not start the conversation of how you can take advantage of daylighting in your home, as well as discuss your options of controlling the amount of daylight you want at any given time. Skylights, solar tube lights, raising or replacing windows and doors, and creating pass-throughs at existing walls are all simple ways to harvest day light. Alternatively, too much light can distort your surroundings and diminish the comfort inside your home. Fortunately, there are a variety of daylight controls available to homeowners, such as window coverings and black out shades or louvers, all of which can be remote-controlled ultimately putting you in charge of your environment.

The ever growing “green” movement has been instrumental in providing education on the impact of cheap versus dirty electricity and has helped reduce our reliance on electricity worldwide. Hiring the right Contractor or Construction Consultant can lead to a redesigned home that could potentially save you hundreds of dollars annually, but will also create a pleasant living space for you to enjoy for years to come. In the end, there is no real limit to daylighting, except our imaginations.