Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture

Museum of Country Life, Ireland

Architects Office of Public Works, Dublin

Engineer Sutton Vane Associates, Lighting Design

Client Scroope Design, Dublin

The Museum of Country Life at Turlough

Park, Castlebar, in County Mayo is set in the

landscaped grounds of a large country house in

the West of Ireland, and as can be seen in the

photograph below, it has large windows along

the side elevations, in addition to the large

end glazing.

The brief to the lighting designers was to

utilize daylight, not so much to conserve

energy, although it would have some effect on

this, but to capitalize on the beautiful views

out to the landscape through the windows.

The museum is designed to stress the

importance of country life, so it is the setting

for the way of life that created the artefacts to

be shown in the museum. There was a desire

to allow as much daylight in to the building

consistent with the needs of conservation, so

that the natural variation of daylight could be

enjoyed, as it changes throughout the day and

the seasons.

The building has large windows to the

south-east and west, allowing both high levels

of daylight, and direct sun penetration.

The problem presented to the lighting

designer was therefore to provide an

impression of natural light throughout the

circulation areas of the building, whilst

controlling the levels of light within the

displays.

Several solutions were adopted: window

film was applied to virtually every window to

reduce the light levels overall, without

destroying the view and where views were

not important baffles were designed to direct

light away from the artefacts, to the ceiling.

To solve the problem of sun penetration on

the south and east elevations two-metre high

screens parallel to the windows were placed

in front of the display areas, giving the

opportunity to the exhibition designer to

create a low light level exhibition area within

the limitation of 50 lux.

The layout of the building shows how the

screens were placed, and this can be read in

conjunction with the section to illustrate the

the differentiation between the area lit by the

windows for circulation, and the display area

beyond with its low light level to ensure the

conservation of the artefacts.

168 Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture

View of the interior to show the window space

contrasted with the low level display area

Exterior of the building

Sutton Vane Associates

Sutton Vane Associates