Tubular Daylighting Devices Bring In Organic Light
Natural lighting is among a home’s best assets. It can force you to look better and feel much better. It can decrease depression and improve your health. As the Greek philosopher Plato said, albeit in another context,”We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” The newest, sleekest way to bring natural light to your home is using a tubular daylighting device — a narrow tube that unobtrusively beams daytime into dark rooms.
Tubular daylighting devices (TDD) also reduce the amount of fixtures you have to have in a space, thus saving you electricity and cash. Solatube International, which generates TDDs, also states that the tubes are cost and time efficient: An expert can install one in two weeks, and they cost less than installing new windows or conventional skylights. Payback varies, but for an average cost of $500, you could see economic benefits in a few decades, Eco-Structure magazine reports.
The skylights are reflective cylinders or pipes installed between the roof and ceiling, with a transparent plastic dome. The bottoms of these tubes are diffused or glazed to stop glaring beams of light and to ensure a soft glow.
Garrison Hullinger, of Garrison Hullinger Interior Design in Portland, Oregon, enjoys to place these tubes into his clients’ baths, since the natural light makes a serene spa setting. But they can go in just about any area of the house.
Before Photo
VELUX
The difference in this toilet between no TDD, with electrical lights from sconces turned on, and a TDD, electrical lights turned off, is eye opening. And the more you maintain your lights off, the more you save electric costs.
Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc..
Designer Garrison Hullinger place a skylight in this project’s toilet, adding to the feeling of the outdoors brought in.
Spore Design
TDDs can be installed on almost any roof. And unlike large skylights, they maintain a rather low profile, even though they can be observed from an outdoor space, as in this house.
VELUX
Velux Sun Tunnel Skylight
Inside this close-up of a Velux Sun Tunnel, you can see the transparent plastic dome on top of the reflective pipe that’s installed between the roof and the ceiling.
John Lum Architecture, Inc.. AIA
A shower using a solar tube shines brightly, even without electrical lights.
Harrell Remodeling, Inc..
A TDD at a kitchen, coupled with canned lights, makes the space warmer than the canned lights would independently. If multiple TDDs are installed at a place, reducing the use of electrical lights, in addition, it reduces the area’s heat gain, states SolaDesign Systems, another manufacturer of TDDs. This can save even more money and electricity by lessening the need for air conditioning.
Mark English Architects, AIA
If you do not like how the TTDs look in the interior, you can always recess part of the ceiling and then install multiple ones, so they move quite unnoticed.
Inform us: If you could install a tubular daylighting device in 1 area of your house, which is it?
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