Development of a "Light Well" for daylight transparent, highly energy-efficient, multi-story buildings

Daylight supply of multi-story buildings with the help of rooflight openings. Reflecting vertical ducts transport light down to the lowermost floor. The idea promises new building structures with daylight transparency and high energy-efficiency that have a minimal demand of artificial light and cooling at optimal comfort.

Short Description

Status

completed

Abstract

The "Light Well" is based on an idea of Prof. Christian Bartenbach. It enables multi-storey buildings to be completely illuminated by daylight from openings in the roof. This means that buildings are not longer limited in width and length in terms of day lighting. This idea has already been applied in different student projects and master thesis at the Lichtakademie Bartenbach.

The specific characteristic of the "Light Well" is based on reflecting material which enables the transport of sunlight from a transparent opening on top of the roof down to the lowermost floor. The light is transported in a duct which has an opening in every floor to get the right amount of lighting into each level. The "Light Well" is an implant for a new building and can also be used for buildings which should be refurbished.

Within this feasibility study unsolved problems in design and technical aspects were clarified. Therefore a new building and a refurbished building were newly designed using the Light Well technology. Afterwards both designs were compared in aspects of profitability and the quality of their interior design. Adequate daylighting with perfect and glare-free distribution inside the rooms and minimized heating requirements and thus low energy consumption show the superiority of the Light Well. Together with low building costs this results in an excellent economic effectiveness and low CO₂ emissions.

These results of this study are the basis for the development of an actual draft that shall be realized within a follow-up project together with architects.

Project Partners

Project Management

Mag. Wilfried Pohl - Bartenbach LichtLabor GmbH

Project Partners

Philipp Schmitz, MLL
DI Dr. David Geisler-Moroder

Contact Address

Bartenbach LichtLabor GmbH
Mag. Wilfried Pohl
Rinner Straße 14
A-6071 Aldrans
Tel.: +43 (512) 3338-0
E-Mail: info@bartenbach.com
Web: www.bartenbach.com