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Prism Tiles
Prism lighting is the use of prisms to improve the distribution of light in a space. It is usually used to distribute daylight, and is a form of anidolic lighting. Prism lighting was popular from its introduction in the 1890s through to the 1930s, when cheap electric lights were commonplace and prism lighting became unfashionable. While mass production of prism lighting systems ended around 1940, the 2010s have seen a revival using new materials. How it works The human eye's response to light is non-linear: halving the light level does not halve the perceived brightness of a space, it makes it look only slightly dimmer. If light is redistributed from the brightest parts of a room to the dimmest, the room therefore appears brighter overall, and more space can be given a useful and comfortable level of illumination (see before and after images from an 1899 article, below). This can reduce the need for artificial lighting. Refraction and total internal reflection inside optical ...
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Window With Prism Tile Transom
A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material, a sash set in a frame in the opening; the sash and frame are also referred to as a window. Many glazed windows may be opened, to allow ventilation, or closed, to exclude inclement weather. Windows may have a latch or similar mechanism to lock the window shut or to hold it open by various amounts. In addition to this, many modern day windows may have a window screen or mesh, often made of aluminum or fibreglass, to keep bugs out when the window is opened. Types include the eyebrow window, fixed windows, hexagonal windows, single-hung, and double-hung sash windows, horizontal sliding sash windows, casement windows, awning windows, hopper windows, tilt, and slide windows (often door-sized), tilt and turn windows, transom windows, sidel ...
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Transparency And Translucency
In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions are much larger than the wavelengths of the photons in question), the photons can be said to follow Snell's law. Translucency (also called translucence or translucidity) allows light to pass through, but does not necessarily (again, on the macroscopic scale) follow Snell's law; the photons can be scattered at either of the two interfaces, or internally, where there is a change in index of refraction. In other words, a translucent material is made up of components with different indices of refraction. A transparent material is made up of components with a uniform index of refraction. Transparent materials appear clear, with the overall appearance of one color, or any combination leading up to a brilliant spectrum of every color. The opposit ...
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Vault Light
Pavement lights (UK), vault lights (US), floor lights, or sidewalk prisms are flat-topped walk-on skylights, usually set into pavement (sidewalks) or floors to let sunlight into the space below. They often use prism lighting, anidolic lighting prisms to throw the light sideways under the building. They were developed in the 19th century, but declined in popularity with the advent of cheap electric lighting. Older cities and smaller centers around the world have or have had pavement lights. Most such lights are approximately a century old, although lights are being installed in some new construction. Uses Sidewalk prisms are a method of daylighting basements, and are able to serve as a sole source of illumination during the day. At night, lighting in the basements beneath produces a glowing sidewalk. Vault lights may be used to make subterranean space useful. They are more common in city centers, urban density, dense, high-rent areas where space is valuable. Historically, la ...
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Daylighting
Daylighting is the practice of placing windows, skylights, other openings, and Reflective surfaces (climate engineering), reflective surfaces so that sunlight (direct or indirect) can provide effective internal lighting. Particular attention is given to daylighting while designing a building when the aim is to maximize visual comfort or to reduce energy use. Energy savings can be achieved from the reduced use of artificial (electric) lighting or from passive solar heating. Artificial lighting energy use can be reduced by simply installing fewer electric lights where daylight is present or by automatically Dimmer, dimming/switching off electric lights in response to the presence of daylight – a process known as daylight harvesting. The amount of daylight received in an internal space can be analyzed by measuring illuminance on a grid or undertaking a daylight factor calculation. Computer programs such as Radiance (software), Radiance allow an architect or engineer to quickly cal ...
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Anidolic Lighting
Anidolic lighting systems use anidolic optical components to light rooms. Light redirected by these systems does not converge to a focal point or form an image, hence the name (from ''an'', without, and ''eidolon'', image). Anidolic lighting uses non-imaging mirrors, lenses, and light guides to capture exterior sunlight and direct it deeply into rooms, while also scattering rays to avoid glare. The human eye's response to light is non-linear, so a more even distribution of the same amount of light makes a room appear brighter. It is most challenging to effectively capture and redistribute light on cloudy, overcast days,Scartezzini, p. 14 when the sunlight is diffuse. Optical elements Mirrors are typically parabolic or elliptical mirrors. Lenses are frequently made in multiple sections, like a Fresnel lens. Light guides include light pipes and anidolic ceilings. Lens systems Lens systems use reflection and refraction within optical prisms to redirect daylight. Some forms ...
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Diffuse Reflection
Diffuse reflection is the reflection (physics), reflection of light or other radiation, waves or particles from a surface such that a ray (optics), ray incident on the surface is scattering, scattered at many angles rather than at just one angle as in the case of specular reflection. An ''ideal'' diffuse reflecting surface is said to exhibit Lambertian reflection, meaning that there is equal luminance when viewed from all directions lying in the half-space (geometry), half-space adjacent to the surface. A surface built from a non-absorbing powder such as plaster, or from fibers such as paper, or from a polycrystalline material such as white marble, reflects light diffusely with great efficiency. Many common materials exhibit a mixture of specular and diffuse reflection. The visibility of objects, excluding light-emitting ones, is primarily caused by diffuse reflection of light: it is diffusely-scattered light that forms the image of the object in the observer's eye. Mechanism ...
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Daylight Redirecting Window Film
Daylight redirecting film (DRF) is a thin, flexible plastic film which can be applied to a window to refract or reflect incoming light upwards, so that the deeper parts of the room are lit more evenly. It can be used as a substitute for opaque blinds. It is a form of prism lighting. Function The human eye's response to light is non-linear: halving the light level does not halve the perceived brightness of a space, it makes it look only slightly dimmer. If light is redistributed from the brightest parts of a room to the dimmest, the room therefore appears brighter overall, and more space can be given a useful and comfortable level of illumination (see before and after images from an 1899 article, left). This can reduce the need for artificial lighting. Refraction and total internal reflection inside optical prisms can bend beams of light. This bending of the light allows it to be redistributed. The prism structure only bends light appropriately at certain angles; if the angle ...
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Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture". Wright was the pioneer of what came to be called the Prairie School movement of architecture and also developed the concept of the Usonian home in Broadacre City, his vision for urban planning in the United States. He also designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, and other commercial projects. Wright-designed inter ...
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Angle Of Refraction
In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles are also formed by the intersection of two planes. These are called dihedral angles. Two intersecting curves may also define an angle, which is the angle of the rays lying tangent to the respective curves at their point of intersection. ''Angle'' is also used to designate the measure of an angle or of a rotation. This measure is the ratio of the length of a circular arc to its radius. In the case of a geometric angle, the arc is centered at the vertex and delimited by the sides. In the case of a rotation, the arc is centered at the center of the rotation and delimited by any other point and its image by the rotation. History and etymology The word ''angle'' comes from the Latin word ''angulus'', meaning "corner"; cognate words are the Greek ...
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Acrylic Resin
186 px, Polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate is a typical acrylate resin. An acrylic resin is a thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic substance typically derived from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and acrylate monomers such as butyl acrylate and or methacrylate monomers such as methyl methacrylate. Thermoplastic acrylics designate a group of acrylic resins typically containing both a high molecular weight and a high glass transition temperature which exhibit lacquer dry capability. Acrylic resins designed for use in two component systems for crosslinking with isocyanate are referred to as polyols and are made with the monomers previously mentioned as well as hydroxy monomers such as hydroxy ethyl methacrylate. Acrylic resins are produced in different liquid carriers such as a hydrocarbon solvent (solventborne acrylics or solution acrylics solventborne acrylic selector) or water in which case they are referred to as emulsions or dispersions and they are also provided in 100% solids be ...
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