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Skylights
The Daylighting Difference: Natural Light and Workplace Productivity
May 4, 2020
Employee compensation is often one of a company’s largest operational costs; and given the high percentage of revenue that it consumes, it is only sensible that an employer seeks to optimize that investment by improving staff productivity. An unengaged, unproductive staff member can cost a company thousands of dollars in lost time and revenue. Unfortunately, lack of productivity remains a common complaint among office workers with only 13 percent of respondents feeling engaged in their work according to Gallup statistics [1]. The good news, however, is that many of the causes behind a lack of productivity - including drowsiness, physical discomfort, and emotional distractions - can be mitigated with a daily dose of natural daylight in the workplace.
The Daylighting Difference: Sustainability
April 13, 2020
Given that a large fraction of greenhouse gas emissions are the result of burning fossil fuels to produce electricity, one of the most significant steps a company can take towards a sustainable future is curbing its electricity use. Fortunately, one of the largest consumers of electricity is also one of the most easily replaced.
5 Considerations When Installing Glass Skylights
March 16, 2020
Glass skylights can provide many benefits when installed in commercial buildings. There are various criteria to consider when planning a glass skylight installation; however, we’ve highlighted the five points that we believe are the most commonly overlooked. While a successful glass skylight installation involves the culmination of efforts by an experienced team, considering the following items in the early stages of project development can help get your skylight installation in the right direction.
Creative Option: Removable Skylights
January 13, 2020
Hospitals and medical centers have found a unique way to utilize removable skylights by placing them over equipment like MRI machines that are too large to move and occasionally need to be serviced. In these applications, the skylight, or a portion of it, is simply removed and workers are provided with easy access to the machinery.
The Daylighting Difference: Biophilic Design
October 4, 2019
In an urban age when most waking hours are spent indoors, Biophilic design strives to satisfy the innate human tendency to hunt for and associate with the natural ingredients for human health and survival. People have evolved to instinctively associate with the natural features and processes that, though no longer as relevant to survival, contribute to their livelihood and well-being – and few things were and continue to be as integral to human health as the sun. The sun a source of both light and warmth, we have become biologically encoded to seek out its rays; and more than that, our body also relies on the sun to stimulate Vitamin D production and regulate the body’s daily rhythms.
The daylighting difference: student health & learning
September 4, 2019
Children need sunlight; and because most children and adolescents spend the majority of their daylight hours in school, it’s important that students have access to sunlight by incorporating daylighting systems into classroom design. Exposure to natural light not only contributes to a student’s physical well-being by boosting their daily intake of Vitamin D, but also enriches their mental health by regulating the Circadian Rhythm and the release of influential hormones that, for adolescents in particular, can be difficult to manage on their own. Studies show these students sleep better, think more positively, concentrate longer, and miss fewer days of school due to illness. Studies also show that happier, healthier children perform better academically; and by diffusing daylight through halls and classrooms, schools can improve test scores, support student well-being, reallocate saved energy costs for school supplies and other needs, and promote sustainability.
Case study: Fast Tracking the Canadian Grand Prix
June 7, 2019
Learn how Unicel Architectural Corp. supplied 32,500 sq. ft. of curtain wall, skylights and 1 km of glass railing during a tight 10-month construction timeline over a tough winter season.
5 Considerations when installing glass skylights
May 13, 2019
Glass skylights can provide many benefits when installed in commercial buildings. There are various criteria to consider when planning a glass skylight installation; however, we’ve highlighted the five points that we believe are the most commonly overlooked. While a successful glass skylight installation involves the culmination of efforts by an experienced team, considering the following items in the early stages of project development can help get your skylight installation in the right direction.
Visual Blog: Kalwall in the Retail/Commercial Market
February 8, 2019
Introducing diffuse natural daylighting into a retail space has proven to increase sales and productivity. Full spectrum, glare-free daylight encourages consumers to spend more time shopping by creating a better mood and allowing products to be seen in sharper detail. The bottom line benefit extends to any commercial building: From reducing energy costs to increasing employee production, a space enhanced by diffuse natural daylighting increases in value per square foot. Here are five retail/commercial projects across the globe where Kalwall translucent sandwich panels have been used to provide a diffuse natural daylighting solution.
Design Spotlight: Places of Worship
December 4, 2018
During the holiday season, places of worship often take on a more central role in people's lives and become important social centers, gathering places, and community hubs. With that in mind, we thought we would re-examine some daylighting options for these spaces and their unique design challenges.
Skylights: bringing out the best in art
November 16, 2018
Curators and collectors continually struggle with the age old dilemma of how to find the right lighting for works of art without risking undue damage. The problem with direct sunlight and artificial light is that they cause damage not only through exposure to light (photochemical action), but from solar heat gain. The result of both will lead to the deterioration of art through cracking, brittleness and change in color. The solution for many museums and galleries are translucent skylights.
Halloween spotlight: daylighting horror stories - sorting fact from fiction
October 3, 2018
In honor of the Halloween season, we thought we'd take a look at some "scary" daylighting stories that have been floating around the construction world. Sadly, these two questions seem to be the most discussed, but we're here to set the record straight!
Design spotlight: enhancing the grid
June 3, 2018
There are a variety of daylighting and glazing options in the market today, but one of the stand-out features of translucent panel systems is their grid pattern. Translucent panels, like the Guardian 275® system, feature an aluminum grid that supports the interior and exterior fiberglass face sheets. This gives the panels their strength and allows for panel sizes up to 5 feet wide by 20 feet long in some instances.
Daylight & Learning
April 20, 2018
When Las Cruces High School, the oldest high school in Las Cruces, New Mexico, needed an update and expansion, emphasis was placed on carving out new classroom space, more administrative space, a new library, a performing arts center, and a pedestrian bridge connecting the old and new sides of the facility.
Kalwall in the Manufacturing Market
April 10, 2018
Daylighting is essential to any modern manufacturing facility as a proven way to increase productivity. Incorporating diffused natural daylight challenges architects to find creative ways to design aesthetically pleasing, yet functional and, in many cases, secure and protected spaces. Kalwall allows that creativity while meeting the most demanding manufacturing requirements for areas that need high visual acuity and visual privacy, in addition to reducing maintenance and energy costs.
Entrances & entryways - making an impact
March 2, 2018
First impressions are important, and the same holds true for building entrances. Whether you're welcoming potential customers, trying to calm worried patients, or hosting teachers and students, their initial interaction with the space can set the overall mood and tenor of their experience.
Building orientation & daylighting
February 9, 2018
Designing natural daylighting in a building can be difficult if the building is an existing structure or if the property has a difficult orientation. There are a few things to consider when working with difficult building layouts.
Translucent panel canopies allow for great design versatility
January 26, 2018
Translucent panel canopies from Major offer protection from sun, rain, snow - plus their light weight allows for great design versatility.
Visual Blog: Kalwall Retrofit
November 15, 2017
The design challenges facing architects and builders when renovating older buildings are considerable from increasing energy efficiency, to navigating inherited structural and building code changes. Here are five projects highlighting how such issues were solved, and illustrate some incredible transformations.
Thermal breaks in aluminum framing: not just a cold-weather friend
November 7, 2017
Heat conduction, or the transfer of heat through a solid material at the molecular level, is a problem that occurs in aluminum framing. Providing a thermal break in the aluminum is the most common solution for disconnecting the exterior and interior of the aluminum frame. The frame is literally split into two components and must be connected by a structural material that is of significantly less conductivity as the aluminum. Simultaneously the thermal break material must bond the two components together.