Wo-Built Inc: Clients' Advocate for making their Dream Home happen: The Development of Our Addition Project: Part 2

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

The Development of Our Addition Project: Part 2

Wo-Built's Development of a Second Floor Addition Project 2008

Wo-Built's Second Floor Addition Project
"...allowing plenty of daylight to penetrate to the lower level as the staircase has a very open design."
Photo © 2008 Wo-Built Inc.

The open concept brought with it another challenge: how does one keep it from feeling dark during the day. The windows on the walls are large, but as everyone knows daylight diminishes in intensity quickly leaving the center of the space dark. Daylight can also have a rather gloomy quality.

With the addition of a second story it was not feasible to introduce skylights in the ceiling in the center of the room (this would have really diminished the quality of the rooms upstairs), but we could brighten the staircase with two large and spectacular side by side skylights. We achieved two effects: making the staircase a feature in the room and allowing plenty of daylight to penetrate to the lower level as the staircase has a very open design.

As a designer/contractor we have a need to balance design with practicalities, such as making sure that the heat loss through the windows is kept low and acceptable. Would one skylight have been enough to light the staircase? No doubt it would have brought some daylight down, but it would not have had the WOW effect that was achieved with the installation of 2 skylights. Comfort is not just providing energy efficient solutions, but also providing light, lightness and visual stimulation.

Hip-hip hurrah for a great solution!
Stay tuned for part 3 of our addition project.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc.

Wo-Built's Second Floor Addition Project
"...we could brighten the staircase with two large and spectacular side by side skylights."

links:
Wo-Built's ProjectsWo-Built's Second Floor Addition ProjectWo-Built Inc.: The Development of an Addition Project: Part 1Wo-Built Inc.: The Development of Our Addition Project: Part 2Wo-Built Inc.: The Development of Our Addition Project: Part 3

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