and weather. The early rooflights were perceived either as domes such as
that at Chiswick House with ordinary windows in the sides allowing in
the daylight, but by the nineteenth century structural techniques had
developed sufficiently to allow fully glazed barrel vaults or glazed domes
to be placed above areas of building remote from the side walls and the
proximity of windows. Examples of nineteenth century shopping malls
still exist today where these overhead lights permit daylight to reach
deep into the interior of buildings.
Much innovation was used in the nature of these roofights, and it is of
interest to study the section of the Soane Museum, to see the many
different shapes and sizes of overhead light Soane devised to introduce
daylight to the different spaces, in what was at the time his private house.
By the twentieth century the use of rooflights had been reduced almost
entirely to industrial buildings, and the CIBSE Lighting Guide LG10,
‘Daylighting and Window Design’ (published October 1999) illustrates a
number of different types, the most common of which were the shed
roof, the sawtooth, and the monitor.
Windows 23Shopping Centre in Leeds. Barrel vaulted
rooflightSection through the Soane MuseumDP ArchiveBannister FletcherRooflight profilesCIBSE LG.10