27 July 2009 | Posted inBlog News & Updates, Pictures
Weidt Light
One of the challenges for the zero emissions office building design team will be to maximize use of daylighting. At last Thursday’s design charrette in The Weidt Group’s offices in Minnetonka, Minn., the team experienced a living lab of naturally lit space – an office that uses virtually no electric lights.
The Weidt Group’s general office area (no electric lights, north-facing windows):
“The key for getting the daylighting back into the space is the upper portion of glazing, the area above the ductwork,” says The Weidt Group energy analyst Chris Baker. “The higher the top of the window, the deeper you can get light into the space. The other key is that we live with lower light levels in the back of the space. The IESNA — the lighting designer’s national organization — recommends 20 to 50 footcandles at 30 inches above a finished floor with a typical desk height for office spaces, and our private offices are down near 15 footcandles. Sometimes people need a task light, but most of the time they have enough light.”
Main conference room (no electric lights and an operable, open window):
To warn local birds that this is a no-fly zone, there were lots of birds of prey stickers on the windows. They seemed to work. At no point in the day did we hear any sort of thump:
Breakout conference room (no electric lights):
Outdoor cafeteria (no electric lights):
Please walk on the grass! A good sense of the welcoming feeling at The Weidt Group’s offices, which are in a building resting at the entrance of the SkyRidge Nature Preserve:
Spending the day in The Weidt Group’s offices proved to HOK’s design team that lower light levels are suitable for a productive work environment. But are they marketable?
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Thomas Edison, eat your heart out…
Great stuff. Having that ceiling height really helps. In our HOK Atlanta office, we have a lot of day light actually. We cut off all of our overhead lights and only used task lights when we needed too and it got such rave reviews that we’ve been thinking about a plan to implement at least turning off 50% or so of the overhead lighting. It’s not that we have excessive lighting (LEED Gold Space), but rather we have so much daylight, even for only a 9ft ceiling. I think once we start ‘monitoring’ day-by-day energy levels of our space, our case for shutting them off will be even greater.
Wow, this is a great design! The world needs more places like this. Very cool!
-Trent