Naturally luminous: fresh ways to use daylight to brighten your home - Home - Brief Article

Sunset, Jan, 2004 by Mary Jo Bowling, Jil Peters, Peter O. Whiteley

It's a question that almost every homeowner faces: How do you make a room feel bright and airy? The solution usually starts with the character and placement of glass. Glass can be translucent or semitranslucent, smooth or textured, and aside from its most obvious function in windows, it can be used in interior walls or even on floors and ceilings to flood a space with even, nonglaring light.

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The shape and location of windows are especially important. For instance, clerestory and frameless windows at the edge of a ceiling make spaces feel bigger because light washes across walls and the ceiling, blurring the boundaries between them. Proper window placement lets in light while preserving privacy, as these examples demonstrate.

Light with privacy

This kitchen was a dark, crowded fishbowl that looked right into the neighbor's home--just 9 feet away. Architects Mark Horton and Paul Haydu added a wall of glass that's sand-blasted at eye level for privacy and clear at the top, where all you see is the blue sky.

DESIGN: Mark Horton/Architecture, San Francisco (415/543-3347)

Shining through

A glass backsplash and glass on the fronts and backs of cabinets capture the light from a narrow side yard. The frosted cabinet doors diffuse the view of what's inside the cabinets and the exterior of the house next door. The gleaming stainless steel sink surround adds to the overall glow.

DESIGN: Tish Key Interior Design, San Francisco (415/359-1470)

Bright stairs

Transparent walls turn a flight of stairs at the center of this house into a chimney of light. These glass walls--and the stairs with their minimal risers--allow the light from the skylight and a west-facing window to pass through from the top story to the bottom. The treads and landing almost appear to float behind the glass, creating an artful version of a cutaway view. White paint magnifies the airiness.

DESIGN: Robert Nebolon Architect, Berkeley (510/525-2725)