I recently had the opportunity to visit the Solatube office here in San Diego. I found this trip to be a good learning experience so I thought I'd share. Solatubes are used to bring natural daylight into spaces which could help in reducing energy usage from artificial lighting. They work by transferring sunlight through highly reflective surfaces found within the inner sidings of a Solatube. 
The thing I did not know before and found most impressive was its ability to make radius turns into spaces that would normally seem too difficult to reach. I also had the opportunity to see a Solatube with more than a 60' run. According to the guys at Solatube a run that long might only lose about 20% of light (give or take). Which I think is still very impressive.
learning from actually seeing it in person is the best it gives you a totally better understanding of how to apply this to future projects.
This trip was pretty cool - but I am more excited about the one to follow - next stop FLUX workshops (Advance Grasshopper)
Until next time. FP
5 Comments
I used those on a project once. This trip looks like a lot of fun!
Q. That's really cool - do you have any images posted on any of your past entries that would be something that I would be interested in seeing.
About the trip you are right about it being fun . It's always fun learning first hand and seeing how things really work.
I've seen a lot of those tubes used in houses on the sunny west coast. I wish the east coast would start implementing stuff like this.
I LOVE Solatubes!! I'm planning to put one in my master bath when I redo it someday), as the best location for a window is in the shower and I don't want to deal with waterproofing the opening.
I saw them used in an office, deep in the middle of the cubicle farm, and the quality of light is really nice, bright but not harsh.
So cool!
in terms of code compliance, can you have a windowless room (e.g. classroom) if solatubes are used?
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