windows & doors: daylighting
PROJECT
The north and south sides of the main library space offer large window views which, combined with the skylights, provide ample daylight to the interior areas. Photo: Mark Luthringer
Daylight Draws Library Patrons A zero-net-energy library uses skylights to help deliver daylight to interior spaces, creating an environment that makes patrons want to spend more time among the books.
H
“
aving beautiful spaces was really import-
new and existing buildings achieve zero-net-energy con-
tect with Harley Ellis Devereaux, San Francisco, whose
ant,” explained librarian Sarah Denton,
sumption through energy efficiency and renewable ener-
firm won the bid for the new West Branch library because
“and a large part of that was having day-
gy sources.”
of their attention to energy-reduction methods. In no
light available at the branch.” Denton is the manager
To achieve the goal set by the Climate Action Plan,
small part, Lee credits the quality of the space to the nat-
for branch and children’s services for City of Berkeley,
every new building Berkeley constructs needs to be a ze-
ural interior daylight the design team created—including
Berkeley Public Library, West Branch Library, Berkeley,
ro-net-energy building, according to Gerard Lee, an archi-
windows and skylights. “You give somebody a choice be-
CA. “But also feeling connected to the outside,”
tween being in a room that has daylight, as opposed
Denton said, expressing how brightening the space
to a windowless room with LED lights, they are go-
with natural interior daylight was an improvement
ing to pick the room with daylight,” Lee stated.
with
over the darker interiors of previous buildings.
While the previous library building had large
The West Branch library is a completely new
floor-to-ceiling windows, the challenges inherent in
building, designed to comply with the City of Berke-
natural interior daylighting design were not consid-
ley’s 2009 Climate Action Plan. According to Neal
The article is part of a collaboration with the Eneref Institute’s Natural
ered. Eventually the tall windows in the older build-
DeSnoo, with Berkeley’s Energy Program Manage-
Interior Daylight initiative (nid.eneref.org) to encourage use of daylight.
ing were covered with bookshelves stocked with
ment team, the Climate Action Plan “sets the ambi-
Eneref, an independent research and advocacy organization for
books, blocking out all of the natural light and fad-
tious goal of reducing local greenhouse gas emis-
sustainable development, is located in Doylestown, PA.
ing the books.
sions by 80% by 2050 and envisions a city where 32
COMMERCI A L BUIL DING P RODUC T S
SEPTEMBER 2015
cbpmagazine.com
The skylights, which bring in the majority of the
