Painting with Sunlight
- Getting the proper amount of light into your home is not as easy as it seems. Too often homes are designed to let in too much sunlight. As a result, the home overheats, furniture begins to deteriorate, etc. Moreover, light can be too bright. The result is the closing of curtains which often obscures the very view one sought to capture in the first place.
Notice in this picture, however, how the sunlight is architecturally designed to be transferred to the ceiling where, during the cool months, it lights up the entire space with a bright but soothing light that does not bother the eyes. The key is providing diffuse light throughout the day. That way the ambient light dances throughout the space without glare.
The light also serves another purpose which, during the cool months of the year, is to heat the surrounding poured earth walls and the tile or concrete floors. This process is called "passive solar heating." The light from the sun (as it is reflected throughout the space) also transfers the HEAT from the sun. The heat is then "captured" by the high mass of the walls and flooring where it is "stored" until the nighttime when it is radiated back into the space. During the summer, this process is reversed (and becomes "passive solar cooling") when the cool air of the evening is brought into the home at night. This cool air also cools down the walls that have been heated during the day by light. The cool of the walls acts as an "air conditioner" throughout the day. Also, because of correct siting of the home, light coming into the home during the warm months is reduced thereby reducing the inflow of heat.
Please contact LIVING SYSTEMS about your project by calling
928 717 2566 or by email: info@michaelfrerking.com.
