Adaptable, Reconfigurable Daylighting Design

 

 

How to group Tubular Daylighting Devices (TDDs) together to minimize rooftop apertures while creating beautiful, fully daylit interior spaces.

 

What are Tubular Daylighting Devices?

 

Tubular Daylighting Devices, or TDDs for short, are tube-shaped devices that, through a rooftop lens and reflective-lined tube, capture sunlight and deliver it deep within a building’s interior on both sunny and cloudy days.

 

Solatube TDDs enable building owners and occupants to enjoy all the benefits of abundant, persistent, quality daylight in any interior space.

 

Overcoming Limitations

Adaptable and Reconfigurable: One of the best features of a TDD is the flexible tube design which can adapt to the ever-changing building interior needs.

 

Since TDDs are designed to effectively distribute harvested daylighting throughout the building using advanced optical light guides, the rooftop apertures can be easily relocated from the location of where the daylight is actually used in the building’s interior.

 

As a result, a single-ganged flashing system can be used to effectively daylight multiple interior spaces, whether they are on the same floor, or even different floors of the building.

 

The ability to untether the rooftop apertures from needing to be located directly over the space being daylit means that the rooftop apertures can be located where they naturally fit within the building’s structural system and layout, thereby simplifying the structural design complexities associated with traditional skylight-based daylighting solutions.

 

Additionally, the TDD’s ability to duct daylight to where it is needed also means that TDDs allow for future interior design layout flexibility.  In the future, if the building’s interior layout changes, the TDD’s light distribution lens and tubing can easily be re-aligned to new locations. Fixtures can also be swapped out and new Effect Lenses or lighting controls can be added or removed to easily customize the new space.

 

As a result, unlike traditional skylight toplighting solutions, a TDD daylighting solution is adaptable and reconfigurable over time.

 

Reducing the Chance of Error

With any roofing system, the main objective is to minimize the potential for roof leaks. 

 

Unlike traditional fenestration (windows and skylights), the unique optical characteristics of a TDD’s Capture/Transfer/Deliver components, offers the ability to gang multiple TDD apertures on a single architectural or structural curb to allow the designer to minimize the number of required rooftop penetrations required to effectively daylight the building’s interior.

 

By ganging multiple TDD domes and flashing systems into a single architectural curb, the number of required rooftop penetrations can easily be reduced to one-quarter of the number of flashed openings as might typically be required for a quality skylight-based daylighting solution.

 

As a result, the number of potential roofing leaks is significantly reduced, providing the building owner with decreased maintenance costs and improved functionality over the building’s life.

 

Delivering an Energy-Efficient Upgrade

 

The TDD’s unique ability to support ganged rooftop apertures makes a TDD-based daylighting solution an excellent option for Adaptive Reuse of buildings with existing, aging skylights.

 

In these applications, the original skylight curbs can be repurposed by replacing the old skylight with new 21^st century TDD daylighting technologies to capture and distribute glorious daylight to the building’s interior spaces.

 

By repurposing existing skylight openings with multiple TDD systems, the architect and building owner can effectively breathe new life and efficiency to an aging building’s design without requiring a redesign of the building’s structure and roofing system.

 

 

If you want to learn more about adaptive and flexible design using the power of the sun, you can call 888.SOLATUBE to set up a free consultation or visit Solatube.com/commercial to find your local distributor. We can help find flexible solutions by incorporating Solatube TDDs into your projects, from spec writing to daylight modeling to a simple consultation.