Bright ideas

Studies have shown that in buildings brightened mostly by daylight people are happier, healthier and more productive. In schools, students performed up to 25 percent better and in stores, people spent up to 40 percent more. And then there’s the potential energy savings.

For those reasons and more, Washington State University’s Spokane branch will develop a laboratory to study how buildings can be constructed to take advantage of natural lighting. Funding comes in the form of a $135,000 grant from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, a nonprofit financed by utilities, government agencies and others to support energy efficiency.

“We’ve lost the art of daylighting due to electric lights,” said Judy Theodorson, the WSU architecture professor who worked for two years to land the grant. “The whole building will become a different type of building if daylighting is thought about early on. People think of windows for views or to create a composition, but they need to be thought of as a way to bring light into a building.”

Part of the grant requires holding seminars for designers, contractors, engineers and building owners on how daylighting practices can be applied to construction projects. The Resource Efficient Building and Remodeling Council (REBAR) will work with WSU on the educational outreach.

“Daylighting holds a lot of interest among commercial developers,” said Jon Powell, manager of partnership solutions for Avista and a board member at NEEA. “It’s cost-effective, and there are non-energy benefits to the customer.”

Two primary components will make up the lab, Theodorson said. An 8 foot by 8 foot room will be constructed at an undetermined site with a ceiling of fluorescent lights and mirrors all around. Models of buildings can be studied inside this “sky box” to determine how much light would be available on an overcast day.

The second piece of equipment will mimic light on a sunny day. Building models will be placed on a “heliodon,” which incorporates a tilting table with light shining on it. A sundial is used to determine light angles at different times of day and year. When building models are tilted one way or another, observers can see how much light would be available in a structure.

Computer modeling will be used as well, Theodorson said, but the emphasis will be on physical models because of their ability to accurately mimic daylight. All of the modeling will help designers and builders see how the structures can best incorporate daylight.

“The whole idea is to model it before the building is built,” she said.

Spokane Public Schools already have incorporated daylighting principles into the designs for three new elementary schools, said Mark Anderson, associate superintendent for school support services. The district was impressed by the studies showing improved student learning in daylit buildings, Anderson said. However, architects had to travel to a daylighting laboratory at the University of Washington to conduct studies for the designs.

“It would be so much more accessible and easy if we had one here in Spokane just because of being close, being able to have the studies done here,” Anderson said. “It’s just smart.”