Being exposed to natural daylight comes with many advantages. For some people daylight provides them with that added boost of energy necessary to have a more productive and positive day. For others, natural daylight gives off a feeling of openness and freedom in a constrained space. For most building designs, access to natural daylight is sometimes the biggest limiting factor and is hard to find. There had been no solutions to properly reflect daylight from the outdoors until now.
The geniuses behind this newly developed idea is CoeLux in Italy. The new form of artificial light is able to successfully dupe humans, cameras and computers into thinking they are being exposed to natural daylight. Using a thin coating of nanoparticles to simulate Rayleigh scattering, a natural process that takes place in Earth’s atmosphere causing diffuse sky radiation. Beyond the possibility of making lights brighter or even bluer, this development accurately replicates how miles of atmosphere transform light within just a few millimeters of surface space.
The mind behind such a find is Professor Paolo Di Trapani of Italy’s University of Insubria has so far spent over 10 years working on this system. The primary source of illumination is an LED projector that emits white light in a spectrum that mimics rays of sunlight. An optical system creates the feel and sensation of distance between sky and sun. The result, a system that essentially confuses our brain to thinking we are being exposed to natural sunlight. This is a fantastic system that is compact and can be built into walls and ceiling to provide a fake sunlight effect.
As lighting may differ in various regions, the developers have created three lighting configurations, simulating broad regions like the Mediterranean, Tropical and Nordic. They are also working on mimicking sunrise, sunset and light in various weather conditions.
The cost still extremely high, the company is looking to make a more affordable alternative in the very near future. This development can actually change urban architecture dramatically!