Innovative office building - lighting, productivity and energy

In December 2000, a new demonstration building for lighting research "Valotalo" (Light House) wasinaugurated at Helsinki University of Technology. The newest experimental technologies for integration of artificial and daylight were applied in order to validate their efficiency and peoples acceptance. Photovoltaic panels of 7 kW maximum power were integrated in the south faade. A 30 m2 solar heating system mounted on the roof of "Light House" produces warm service water. A daylighting test room is also built on the roof for further daylight research. Inside the building, all of the Lighting Laboratorys rooms have different lighting control systems: two types of LON-control systems, and the newest digital lighting control with DALI protocol. The south facing windows of the 3rd floor have motorised venetian blinds in their lower half and laser-cut panels in the upper half of the window frame. At present, the performance of the installed technologies is being studied. Data are collected from energy availability, luminance measurements and analysis, and users interviews. In offices, perception of glare is measured, and luminance distribution is analysed at different seasons and time of the day using a digital photometric image analysis system.