1. Light belongs to the plan The first daylight decision is often made before a window is drawn. It is the decision about which rooms occupy which parts of the house and how people move between them. A kitchen used early in the day, a study occupied for long periods and a living room that […]
Tag Archives: rooflights
02
Oct
Oct
1. Let the existing house set the terms An extension does not arrive on an empty site. Its height, roofline, materials and openings are read beside a house that already has a character of its own. A new addition can continue that language or contrast with it, but the relationship should be deliberate. Begin by […]
30
Sep
Sep
1. Identify the dark part of the plan An extension often gains daylight at its outer edge while leaving the original rooms behind it darker. Before choosing roof glazing, it is worth locating the part of the plan that most needs help. The answer may be above the new dining table, but it may equally […]
14
Sep
Sep
A Bigger Opening Is Not Automatically a Brighter Room When a room feels dark, making the window larger seems like the most logical response. More glass should mean more daylight. In some buildings, that is exactly what happens. But the size of an opening is only one part of the daylight equation, and increasing it […]
11
Sep
Sep
Open-Plan and Light Are Not the Same Thing When a house feels dark, removing internal walls can seem like an obvious solution. Combine the kitchen, dining room and living space, the reasoning goes, and daylight will be able to move more freely through the plan. Sometimes this works extremely well. But openness and daylight are […]
24
Aug
Aug
First Decide What You Are Actually Trying to Shade When a glazed room becomes uncomfortable, the instinctive response is often: “We need some shading.” But that is not yet a complete design brief. Before choosing blinds, screens, overhangs or a different glass specification, establish exactly what problem the shading is supposed to solve. There are […]
21
Aug
Aug
Why Winter Light Behaves So Differently in the UK Winter does not simply give a UK home fewer hours of summer-style light. The angle, duration and availability of sunlight all change. During winter, the sun remains much lower in the sky and the days become considerably shorter. That changes both which elevations receive direct sunlight […]
19
Aug
Aug
How Self-Cleaning Glass Actually Works The name “self-cleaning glass” can make the technology sound more dramatic than it really is. The glass does not actively clean itself, and there is no hidden mechanism removing dirt from the surface. Instead, a specialist coating changes the way certain deposits and water behave on the external face of […]
13
Aug
Aug
Daylight From Above Behaves Differently Daylight entering through a roof does not behave in quite the same way as daylight entering through a wall. A conventional window creates an outward relationship, connecting the interior with a garden, street or landscape beyond. Its view is predominantly towards the horizon. A rooflight turns that relationship upwards, introducing […]
13
Aug
Aug
Rooflights and Roof Lanterns Create Different Kinds of Space Rooflights and roof lanterns are often discussed as alternative ways of achieving the same objective: bringing more daylight into a room from above. Yet their architectural effect can be markedly different. The distinction is not simply one of appearance on the roof. Each changes the relationship […]