Natural light in new underground areas of a historical building: an example of application of double light pipes in preservation of the architectonic heritage.
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1D.S.S.A.R.R. Faculty of Architecture, University “G. D'Annunzio”, Pescara, Italy
Daylight plays a significant role in the knowledge process of an ancient building, for its contribution to understanding the past. Furthermore its function in preservation of architectonic heritage is particularly noteworthy, involving energy saving aspects and allowing to guarantee visual well-being conditions. In a restoration plan, the demand to add further activities often leads to think about new underground spaces in order not to modify the architectonic features of the building. In hypogeal areas daylight is absent, because there is not direct visual interface with the sky, so the unique way to furnish daylight to the interior spaces is to install some technological devices like the light pipes. In this work a new typology of light pipe is proposed by the authors, called Double Light Pipe (DLP), which is able to transport daylight from the captator to the diffuser like a traditional one, and to simultaneously illuminate the intermediate rooms crossed by the system. DLP has been applied in the restoration of the noble palace of Spinete (CB), Molise, Italy, in which the requirement to integrate new activities was satisfied adjoining hypogeal spaces, respecting the ancient walls and the earth line delivered to us from the past. DLP manages the luminous phenomenon as an architectonic component able to model the space, distributing light in all the crossed spaces and transforming the restoration plan into an opportunity for a different dialogue between the monument and the environment in a historical context by means of an innovative technological device for daylight transport.
Keywords. daylight; light pipe; double light pipe
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How to cite this article
Chella, F., Gentile, E. and Zazzini, P. (2007). 'Natural light in new underground areas of a historical building: an example of application of double light pipes in preservation of the architectonic heritage.'. SET Proceedings, 6(1), pp. 232-237. https://doi.org/10.65582/set.2007.038
