Skylight

The skylight ( in Bavaria and Austria the skylights ) is a window opening in the ceiling, which provides an interior space with natural light. Unlike a regular skylight is a skylight is not designed for the views of the surroundings, but is limited to the function of the exposure ( and - if it is tilted - and the ventilation).

In addition to the component of term skylight can also refer generally to the incidence of light from the top of a building.

Use

Skylights often come in larger halls or warehouses for use, or in rooms that have no exterior walls and therefore are laterally windowless.

If a room does not terminate with a horizontal ceiling, but merges directly into the roof space which concludes with one or more roof slopes, a regular skylight assume the function of a skylight. The difference between large skylights and glass roofs is not fixed (for example, roofed patios ). In the field of industrial architecture, the shape of the shed roof was designed to supply large halls with daylight.

In modern construction industrially manufactured skylights, plastic are used. These consist of a crown, which is mounted on top of the roof and an arched, clear-sighted or milky outward sheet of acrylic glass or polycarbonate. Commercial dimensions ranging from 0,30 / 0,30 m to 2,50 / 2,50 m. These skylights can be equipped to open with an electric motor.

Skylights are also often used in agricultural buildings for low-cost light source.

History

Early architecture historical examples of the principle of illumination of the skylight can be found in the form of ceiling openings in Egyptian temples. Also the compluvium, the opening in the ceiling of the atrium in the ancient Roman architecture, was next to the task of collecting rainwater also the function of the exposure. As a special form of the open oculus can be cited in the apex of a dome.

For certain types or components the light from above falls through a perpendicular window: for example, in basilicas through the windows of the clerestory or lantern tower in domes through the window wreaths a lantern or a tambour.

Glazed horizontally mounted skylights are often found in the architecture of classicism, historicism and Art Nouveau, and later in a similar form. The glass panes are usually built into a roof structure made ​​of metal, which is shaped as a hipped roof or tent roof. Skylights of this type are usually created so that they are hidden in the outside view of the building of an attic or from the surrounding roofs and only enter as an element of interior design in appearance.

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