Intelligent Daylighting

The new, free-standing, 1,500-sq.-ft. Evans-Harvard High-Performance Classroom set on Portland's da Vinci's campus has earned LEED Platinum certification for a variety of sustainable strategies including its single slope ControLite® intelligent skylight by CPI Daylighting. Specified by SRG Partners for its large size, reasonable price and modulating control feature, the skylight provides dynamic daylighting for the building's school and community-wide music programming while saving energy and minimizing internal heat gain simultaneously.
"Having an oversized skylight was critical to providing enough daylight during the morning and evening hours," said Timothy R. Grinstead, AIA, LEED AP, Associate, SRG Partnership. "Having modulating control over the amount of light was also important to keeping illumination levels and heat gain within acceptable levels during the hotter and brighter times of year."
The 11.5-ft.-wide by 19-ft.-long intelligent skylight with clear translucent panels is an integral part of the building's larger sustainable design strategy that strives to achieve net-zero energy consumption in the future. Other sustainable features include passive cooling that utilizes added thermal mass for heat storage during the day, a roof-integrated 153-tile photovoltaic array that currently powers half of the building's electric load and a rainwater retention and infiltration system.
Key to the success of ControLite® is its intelligent sun-tracking system with built-in SolaBlades®. The system captures maximum sunlight in the morning and late afternoon hours, but reduces sunlight during peak hours by rotating the skylight's internal blades to create the classroom's desired shading and sunlight transmission. A reflector suspended beneath the skylight helps disperse the daylight, maximizing high contrast ratios and increasing visual comfort as well.
"We consider the entire building as a whole, integrated system that needs to work together to maintain comfort." said Grinstead. "Providing daylight in a controlled manner is a big part of this concept."