Let There Be Light

The way a facility is lit can offer an abundance of benefits, especially when incorporated into a large area. Whether it be a spacious home, a commercial building, or vast industrial space, the interior can be flooded with natural light, creating a bright and airy atmosphere. This can enhance mood and productivity while reducing the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours, in turn leading to energy savings. Additionally, ample natural light positively impacts mental well-being and overall health, promoting a sense of vitality among occupants.

Studies have shown natural daylight in buildings also results in improved occupant comfort, which can directly affect consumer behavior. A comfortable shopping environment can encourage customers to spend more time browsing and ultimately leads to higher sales.

In larger areas, skylights can play a vital role in ventilation, allowing fresh air to circulate and improve indoor air quality (IAQ), crucial in heavily populated or industrial settings.

Strategically placed lighting can showcase architectural features or highlight specific areas within the space, adding aesthetic appeal and visual interest. Overall, the lighting plan in a big area not only enhances its functionality and sustainability but also creates a more inviting and harmonious environment for all who inhabit it.

Distribution center gets flooded with light

When it comes to lighting up commercial projects like sports facilities, warehouses and manufacturing centers, airports, and train stations, dome skylights are becoming increasingly popular.

VELUX Group USA recently opened the doors to its new, advanced distribution center in the redeveloped Fujifilm North American Campus in Greenwood, S.C. With an expansive floor plan and proximity to major highways, the distribution center represents a significant expansion for the company.

The new facility replaces the company’s 30-year-old Greenwood distribution center. Spanning several hundred acres and featuring multiple buildings within, including existing distribution centers, the former Fujifilm site enables VELUX to house logistics, freight, customer support, digital systems, operations support, global IT support, and skylight blind assembly in one location.

The space renovation included the addition of more than 150 VELUX Dynamic Dome commercial skylights, which harvest early morning and late afternoon daylight, allowing the building’s lights to remain off for nearly an extra hour each day. They are engineered to closely match the angles of the sun during low-light periods and utilize a fail-safe proprietary wicking system which evacuates condensation to the exterior of the skylight. They also feature a 100 percent thermally broken skylight frame to isolate interior surfaces from exterior temperatures.

“We have completely transformed a dated property into a state-of-the-art distribution facility and vibrant office, thanks in part to the addition of VELUX skylights that make daylight and fresh air a key component of the space,” says Stephan Moyon, president VELUX America LLC–VELUX Canada. “This renovated space allows our teams to work more closely together in an environment that reflects the benefits our products bring to residences and commercial spaces across the world.”

Aggressive growth plans

Renovated office space in the distribution center totals more than 3,066 m² (33,000 sf) with multiple conference rooms. VELUX sales and marketing teams have taken up operations in the facility, with customer service expected to move in the first quarter of 2024. A separate structure behind the building will be used for product installation training and classes, designed so customers can visit and experience VELUX skylights firsthand.

The previous VELUX distribution center location is being modified for additional skylight manufacturing as the company increases production following a year of double-digit growth. With aggressive growth plans in place in the coming years, VELUX expects its footprint in Greenwood to expand.

Wedding venue gets lit

The ballroom at The Rockleigh, a premier Bergen County, N.J., event, and wedding venue, now boasts new, large architectural skylights providing abundant natural light to the interior space. The five structural skylights were custom-designed and fabricated by GAMCO Corporation, one of the New York metro region’s leading fenestration and architectural metals specialty suppliers.

The installation of the five GAMCO skylights, totaling 37 m² (400 sf),
were part of major renovation and roof replacement work at The Rockleigh, which suffered a serious fire in August 2022. As no skylights existed on the building prior to the fire, GAMCO’s technical staff worked in close collaboration with the installation team at AAA Metal & Glass to conceive of, design, fabricate, and deliver the aluminum frame skylight units to achieve the owner’s vision and project goals.

Over its 38-year history, GAMCO has had extensive experience in the design and fabrication of custom-sized architectural skylights and solariums. In recent years, GAMCO has supplied skylights for several notable projects including the Heights Casino squash and tennis club in Brooklyn, N.Y., 28 units for the Kasmin Gallery in Manhattan, a five-ride skylight outdoor arcade glass roof spanning nearly 21 m (70 ft) at the entrance to the Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel, and a 17 m (55 ft) skylight for a Porsche dealership in New Jersey.

All in the details

For The Rockleigh project, GAMCO used its versatile SK2000 Structural Skylight product in a double pitch with hip-ends configuration. The custom sized aluminum frame SK2000 features 30-degree pitch angles, strong 3.18 mm (0.125 in.) aluminum extrusion components with integral condensate gutter pockets. The five equal-size 1,803 x 3,937 mm (71 x 155 in.) skylights used 50 x 89 mm (2 x 3.5 in.) base profiles and 50 x 50 mm (2 x 2 in.) rafter components. The GAMCO skylights were curb mounted on five separate roof openings. All the GAMCO SK2000 skylight system aluminum components received a durable factory applied white paint finish.

The skylights for The Rockleigh project were specified with 25 mm (1 in.) glazing pockets. Insulated laminated glass units were supplied by others and field installed. The GAMCO SK2000 Skylight system secures the insulated glass units in place with gaskets and pressure bars with snap-on covers.

Project partners, in addition to The Rockleigh owners and management, include AAA Metal & Glass of Paterson, N.J., a premier regional fenestration firm, and insulated glass fabricator Opulux Glass of Hanover, N.J.

Hardware store navigates reuse

The challenge was to bring natural daylight into a historical, adaptive reuse retail space, displaying building materials in an inviting and energy-efficient manner, while offering a cost-effective “high-end” presentation within a retail environment.

Established in 1884, Ganahl Lumber stands as one of Southern California’s oldest and most respected businesses, known for providing quality hardware, lumber, and building materials. In 2010, the company had the opportunity to return to its roots in Pasadena, Calif., when a 1.6-ha (4-acre) General Motors dealership became available for sale.

The prospect of adaptive reuse was exciting and promising but presented many complexities. The building stands along the iconic Route 66, which meant in addition to the challenge of converting the former automotive establishment into a lumberyard and accommodating its specific requirements, the architecture team at Onyx also had to adhere to the design standards set by the city and historical preservation society.

Embracing a philosophy centered on human-centric design, the objective was to depart from the conventional utilitarian atmosphere often associated with such retail settings, opting instead to craft an environment that offered a “high-end” experience, delight customers, and encourage them to linger.

Illuminate the space

To achieve the vision, detailed attention was given to the daylighting design.

A study by Heschong Mahone Group (HMG), titled Daylight and Retail Sales, found retail spaces lit with daylight experienced a sales increase of more than 40 percent compared to similar spaces selling comparable products without natural light.

Not only does daylight provide psychological and physiological benefits to the occupants within the building, but it also accurately renders all wavelengths of light within the visible color spectrum, allowing merchandise to reflect its true colors with an even intensity, making it more attractive to the human eye.

With this knowledge, the architects at Onyx decided to use 60 Solatube SolaMaster 330 DS-O Tubular Daylighting Devices (TDD) to bring natural daylight into the deep center of the expansive retail space.

Unlike traditional skylights, TDDs harvest daylight on the roof and transfer it down a reflective tube made of one of the world’s most reflective materials, called Spectralight® Infinity, distributing it evenly into the interior space without adding glare. Solatube TDDs work very well for high-bay applications like Ganahl Lumber as they can capture sunlight on both sunny and cloudy days.

In this application, the simple cylindrical shape of the TDD also seamlessly integrated perfectly with the other elements, including HVAC, electric lighting, fire-sprinklers, and signage, resulting in a cohesive and harmonious design in the open ceiling. To ensure the emitted daylight would not be obstructed, the Solatube TDDs were strategically placed with the diffuser lens close to the roof deck. Meanwhile, other systems were layered below, with signage positioned at the bottom, floating over merchandise displays and racks. This purposeful positioning not only allows the facility to maximize the natural light coming from the TDDs, reducing the use of electric lighting during daylight hours, and contributing to a more sustainable retail environment, but also ensures that specific merchandising is highlighted, drawing customer attention, and enhancing the overall shopping experience.