4 ms·

I was always wondering, why don't we have periscope windows? What I imagine is a "light intake" on a roof, from which the light is concentrated into a straight

I was always wondering, why don't we have periscope windows? What I imagine is a "light intake" on a roof, from which the light is concentrated into a straight long NARROW tube that takes it to an underground flat where the light is dispersed into a fake window. Is such design not possible mathematically or just very expensive? Maybe it could use Fresnel lenses to save on cost and weight. That way we would not get a clear picture of the outside world but at least lot of natural daylight.

jw1224 8y ago
I live in a 3-storey apartment building, and one of my neighbours downstairs actually has this. It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. When the building was being designed a couple of years ago, they put a light tunnel in place running down the vertical length of one side of the building. This took light from the penthouse's roof and channeled it down to the ground floor. By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. As my neighbour's apartment was surrounded on two sides by adjoining walls, this meant a room mid-way through the length of the building (and otherwise devoid of natural light) could be considered a bedroom, and marketed as such.
- Spare_account 8y ago
  > It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. > By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. This doesn't sound right to me, so I checked and the best I can come up with is this, from the building regulations: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/5/basements/2 https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects... There is reference to fire escape/egress and to ventilation but nothing about natural light. I don't think there is any requirement to have natural light for a room to be defined as a bedroom. The subject of what a bedroom actually is appears to be somewhat murky. The Building Regulations use terms like "habitable space" for most rooms within a house which I assume allows for the fact that one persons front room/lounge/living room might be another persons ground floor bedroom/granny annex/lodger's bedsit. There are some specific cases such as kitchens and bathrooms that don't tend to be as ambiguous, but I don't think there is a regulation that backs up your statement "By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in." http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/ http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/
  - hrktb 8y ago
    I don't know for the UK, but there is a similar limitation in Japan. An habitation room must have a window, which meant our house was a 2 bedroom + 1 utility room, and not 3 bedrooms. I don't have the source of the requirement, just that it was specified in the contract, and we got an explanation as to why the third room was not deemed fit for habitation.
    - blincoln 8y ago
      My understanding is that it's because of what the GP cited - there needs to be an alternate way to escape the room in the event of a fire/flood/etc. A friend of a friend drowned because they were asleep in a "bedroom" which was a room in a lower level without a window.
tkp 8y ago
The tubes are not that narrow, but Velux makes "sun tunnels" to bring natural light inside buildings : https://www.velux.com/products/sun-tunnels https://www.velux.com/products/sun-tunnels
walterbell 8y ago
Cool idea, this seems to be called a light/sun tunnel and uses a refractive dome to capture light: https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/info/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-sun-light-pipes https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/info/5-things-you-need-to-kn...
jacobush 8y ago
I think I have read about some similar setup using optical fibers.
kwhitefoot 8y ago
You might find this web page interesting: https://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicagos-glass-block-part-i-1893-early-glass-block-and-prism-glass/ https://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicagos-glass-block-p...
toomanybeersies 8y ago
You mean a light tube? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube I think they're uncommon because electric lighting is fairly cheap to run, and there are practical issues with running a big light tube through the house. There's even a Swedish company doing it with fiber optics: https://www.parans.com/ https://www.parans.com/ Their website claims they can get sunlight 30 floors down.
agumonkey 8y ago
Nowadays Fresnel Lens to fiber Glass cables are sold
jloughry 8y ago
I recall reading something about periscope windows years ago in a book about the University of Minnesota's centre for underground buildings. It was said that looking through the periscope window from underground resembled watching a live diorama in an aquarium. I imagined something like a tilt-shift movie. Ever since reading that description, I have always wanted to see a real periscope window.
- jloughry 8y ago
  Found it: it was called an ectascope and there are diagrams here: https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2015/09/seven-stories-down-u-building-serves-tribute-minnesota-experimentalism https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2015/09/seven-stories-down-u... Not a very good photo of what it looked like: http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/6e/29/0553c64f5a894a9391a29158d93d772e.jpg http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/6e/29/0553c64f5a894a9391...

jw1224 8y ago

I live in a 3-storey apartment building, and one of my neighbours downstairs actually has this. It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. When the building was being designed a couple of years ago, they put a light tunnel in place running down the vertical length of one side of the building. This took light from the penthouse's roof and channeled it down to the ground floor. By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. As my neighbour's apartment was surrounded on two sides by adjoining walls, this meant a room mid-way through the length of the building (and otherwise devoid of natural light) could be considered a bedroom, and marketed as such.

Spare_account 8y ago
> It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. > By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. This doesn't sound right to me, so I checked and the best I can come up with is this, from the building regulations: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/5/basements/2 https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects... There is reference to fire escape/egress and to ventilation but nothing about natural light. I don't think there is any requirement to have natural light for a room to be defined as a bedroom. The subject of what a bedroom actually is appears to be somewhat murky. The Building Regulations use terms like "habitable space" for most rooms within a house which I assume allows for the fact that one persons front room/lounge/living room might be another persons ground floor bedroom/granny annex/lodger's bedsit. There are some specific cases such as kitchens and bathrooms that don't tend to be as ambiguous, but I don't think there is a regulation that backs up your statement "By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in." http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/ http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/
- hrktb 8y ago
  I don't know for the UK, but there is a similar limitation in Japan. An habitation room must have a window, which meant our house was a 2 bedroom + 1 utility room, and not 3 bedrooms. I don't have the source of the requirement, just that it was specified in the contract, and we got an explanation as to why the third room was not deemed fit for habitation.
  - blincoln 8y ago
    My understanding is that it's because of what the GP cited - there needs to be an alternate way to escape the room in the event of a fire/flood/etc. A friend of a friend drowned because they were asleep in a "bedroom" which was a room in a lower level without a window.

tkp 8y ago

The tubes are not that narrow, but Velux makes "sun tunnels" to bring natural light inside buildings : https://www.velux.com/products/sun-tunnels https://www.velux.com/products/sun-tunnels

walterbell 8y ago

Cool idea, this seems to be called a light/sun tunnel and uses a refractive dome to capture light: https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/info/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-sun-light-pipes https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/info/5-things-you-need-to-kn...

jacobush 8y ago

I think I have read about some similar setup using optical fibers.

kwhitefoot 8y ago

You might find this web page interesting: https://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicagos-glass-block-part-i-1893-early-glass-block-and-prism-glass/ https://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicagos-glass-block-p...

toomanybeersies 8y ago

You mean a light tube? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube I think they're uncommon because electric lighting is fairly cheap to run, and there are practical issues with running a big light tube through the house. There's even a Swedish company doing it with fiber optics: https://www.parans.com/ https://www.parans.com/ Their website claims they can get sunlight 30 floors down.

agumonkey 8y ago

Nowadays Fresnel Lens to fiber Glass cables are sold

jloughry 8y ago

I recall reading something about periscope windows years ago in a book about the University of Minnesota's centre for underground buildings. It was said that looking through the periscope window from underground resembled watching a live diorama in an aquarium. I imagined something like a tilt-shift movie. Ever since reading that description, I have always wanted to see a real periscope window.

jloughry 8y ago
Found it: it was called an ectascope and there are diagrams here: https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2015/09/seven-stories-down-u-building-serves-tribute-minnesota-experimentalism https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2015/09/seven-stories-down-u... Not a very good photo of what it looked like: http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/6e/29/0553c64f5a894a9391a29158d93d772e.jpg http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/6e/29/0553c64f5a894a9391...