I think we can all agree that there is nothing better for a company than happy employees. One way to ensure people are happy is by maximizing daylight into their work environment.
Some serious money savings and human performance benefits can result from reducing electric lighting and by enhancing daylighting. According to numerous studies, other than saving on energy consumption, important behavioural aspects such as increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and enhanced employee retention can be generated by natural light. People are happier and feel better in general with natural light, so why not take advantage of this natural resource!
In order to profit from both energy savings and human benefits, a building facade needs to be properly designed for daylighting. This means the right type of daylighting system and materials need to be selected. A badly designed system can be just as unfavourable as not having one or worst. One of the most important factors to keep in mind is making sure light is not directly hitting work stations and causing glare, not to mention the heat that can be caused from this.
It is therefore important to use glass products that have appropriate daylight benefits.
A great way to achieve this objective is to use glass with light diffusion properties. Acid-etched glass can help reduce glare and significantly scatter natural light into a much larger area of the interior space. So instead of having light go through the glass and hit one spot at the end of the space, an appropriate acid-etch finish will “scatter” the light rays, spreading as illustrated by the drawings below. This will therefore mitigate glare and reduce the need for artificial light in the interior space.
Walker Textures® acid-etched glass finishes have been tested in accordance with ASTM D1003-13, “Standard Test Method for Haze and Luminous Transmittance of Transparent Plastics”. As a result, specific data has been obtained for all four of our finishes, more specifically, the total luminous transmittance, the diffuse transmittance and the haze.
Light diffusion properties of a glazing system are often overlooked, but as many architects and interior designers know, natural light plays a key role in architecture. So why not maximize its effects! And let’s not forget about the people behind the glass!
