Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture

Ecclesiastical

The daylighting of churches has usually been dealt with in a satisfactory
manner, because of the economic imperative. A church is not occupied
for many hours in the day, but is visited more often. Therefore the
daylighting must be sufficient for general use, perhaps backed up by
additional artificial lighting when the church is in use.
An exception to this is the Methodist Church in Wisconsin, where a
high tech solution has been adopted to overcome the difficulties
associated with the climate, and the site, leading to an economic solution,
well related to its location within a hillside (Case Study, pp 142–143).

Leisure

This is a further example where it is recognized that daylighting is best
and many examples could be found of swimming pools, leisure centres
and sports halls relying entirely on daylighting during the day, provided
that associated problems of solar glare can be overcome.
A particularly interesting example of Sports Lighting is in the Chelsea
Club, where the natural advantages of the ‘‘view out’’ have been
eliminated. The use of a special wall panelling permits daylight to
enter, but which restricts the view in to allow for the paramount need in
this instance for privacy, in contrast to a further example of leisure
lighting in which daylight has totally replaced the need for artificial light.

66 Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture

Cranfield College Library

Bagsvaerd Church, Denmark

David Loe

DP Archive

Inland Revenue, Nottingham

DP Archive