What could be simpler and more enjoyable than going out and enjoying the daylight? At the end of a day locked up at home because of bad weather, or after a hard day at work, this simple pleasure can seem like a life-saver as it is neglected in everyday life.
Living in broad daylight!
But then, why not soften our barbaric mores to enjoy a little more natural light permanently. No! We continue to live in apnea. It’s like taking a deep breath of light at the beginning of the day, before living for hours indoors without breathing anything other than the stale air of a visual submarine. Almost asphyxiated, full of toxins, out of breath and nerves, we come out exhausted. At the end of the day at last, we can breathe in a new breath of fresh light.
Here is the daily life of our inner lives, those of the natural light submariners. We consume light in foul tanks, like divers powered only by a few flickering neon tubes and other high-frequency LED bulbs. Our hearts against the beat of these breathtaking rhythms get tired of holding the tempo of a life in a test tube.
Stop. It’s time to see the light of day and get back to real life. Our eyes, our skin, our senses, our whole being is clamoring for it. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to live in broad daylight!
We don’t bottle natural light
But our aboriginal life is not new and our return to nature is not planned before the next holidays. Dear urbanites, we’ll have to make up our minds. Do we have to drill through the roof to see the sky? Do we have to remove part of the walls to put in windows? Yes of course, but at what cost and in what time frame? Long after the next holidays and the following ones.
Let’s dream a little! Could we deliver daylight in a bottle? Of course we can’t. But would it be possible to gain natural light with a simple kit? An ambient light kit ready to be diffused and enhanced with all the well-being it can provide.
Let’s take back the power over the day that surrounds us
The natural light in window kits did not exist. It had to be invented. It seems trivial to say that we are going to take daylight outside and bring it into homes and offices. However, apart from town planners, architects, engineers and builders who can influence the natural lighting of buildings? These demiurges of our enclosed lives keep us in the shade in their fixed constructions.
And if we could decide to take daylight wherever we want, by drawing on this long-forgotten resource as much as we want. Let us take back the power over the daylight that surrounds us. Let us bring down the bastilles that keep us in the shadows. This is exactly what Espaciel proposes with the invention of the window light reflector.
The celestial vault, light everywhere
Placed under the sky, in front of an opening, the Espaciel reflector reflects daylight and projects it deep into the building to be lit. This operating principle is comparable to that of a roof window. Espaciel reflectors and roof windows use sky light to provide natural lighting. This is called zenithal lighting. It is 4 times more powerful than the side lighting provided by conventional windows. This lighting uses the luminosity of the celestial vault.
The concept of celestial vault allows to express in a simple way the phenomenon of diffusion of the sun’s rays in the atmosphere. This concept is valid whatever the state of the sky, rain, clouds, blue sky… The luminous contributions of the celestial vault can be supplemented by another source of natural light. That of the sun’s rays that pass through the atmosphere without being scattered. This direct solar component of daylight is fleeting. It makes only a secondary contribution to natural lighting. In Lille, where the Espaciel company is based, there are only 54 days of sunshine per year. However, it is not dark on the other 311 days of the year. Nevertheless, the sun remains associated with the general public’s idea of natural light, whereas it should be seen as a benefit of our atmosphere.
Every house is unique and that’s how we love them
Each accommodation is different. It carries a personal story for its occupants who are attached to it. The habitat is the universe of personalization pushed to the extreme. From the window to the skylight, through the French window and the bay window, the openings of the house offer a wide variety of layouts, each type of which can also be created in very different ways. The same applies to the exterior exits. The loggia, the balcony, the terrace, the garden, the English courtyard and the patio are well differentiated environments.
What emerges from discussions with Espaciel clients is that they like their accommodation. They do not wish to leave it even if it is dark. They prefer to look for a solution to the lack of natural light.
These in-depth discussions with interested parties have fed into the creation of the reflector daylighting solution. This took the form of a family of kits adapted to each category of targeted layout: window, balcony, terrace, wall, garden, patio and transom.
The miracle of ready-to-lay
In spite of the multiplication of solutions according to the applications, the Espaciel reflector remains an ultra adaptable and easy to install kit. Unlike the drilling of a new window, which requires an important building site, the Espaciel reflector can be installed in a few minutes, without any work.
This ease of implementation at a moderate cost (10 times cheaper than drilling a new window) is a considerable step towards enabling everyone to make the most of ambient light. Espaciel allows everyone to gain daylight for their personal well-being and that of their loved ones.
Espaciel’s ambition is to make natural light accessible to all! With more than 5000 reflectors sold in 20 countries, this challenge is becoming a reality.
