Editing Daylighting (architecture) (section)

===Remote distribution===
{{main|Anidolic lighting}}
It is possible to provide some daylight into spaces that have low possibility of windows or skylights through remote distribution devices such as mirrors, [[Prism (optics)|prisms]], or [[light tube]]s. This is called [[anidolic lighting]], from [[nonimaging optics|anidolic (non-image-forming) optics]]. The non-linear response of the human eye to light means that spreading light to a broader area of a room makes the room appear brighter, and makes more of it usefully lit.

Remote daylight distribution systems have losses, and the further they have to transmit the daylight and the more convoluted the path, the greater the inefficiency.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Littlefair |first=P.J. |year=1990 |title=Review Paper: Innovative daylighting: Review of systems and evaluation methods |journal=Lighting Research and Technology |volume=22 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.1177/096032719002200101 |s2cid=108501995}}<!--|access-date=November 17, 2015--></ref> The efficiency of many remote distribution systems can also vary dramatically from clear to overcast skies. Nonetheless, where there is no other possibility of providing daylight to a space, remote distribution systems can be appreciated.<ref name="The SLL Lighting Handbook"/>

====Light reflectors and shelves====
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{{see also|Architectural light shelf}}
Once used extensively in office buildings, the manually adjustable light reflector is seldom in use today having been supplanted by a combination of other methods in concert with artificial illumination. The reflector had found favor where the choices of artificial light provided poor illumination compared to modern electric lighting.

Light shelves are an effective way to enhance the lighting from windows on the equator-facing side of a structure, this effect being obtained by placing a white or reflective metal light shelf outside the window.<ref name="The SLL Lighting Handbook"/> Usually the window will be protected from direct summer season sun by a projecting eave. The light shelf projects beyond the shadow created by the eave and reflects sunlight upward to illuminate the ceiling. This reflected light can contain little heat content and the reflective illumination from the ceiling will typically reduce deep shadows, reducing the need for general illumination.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Littlefair |first=P.J. |title=Light shelves: Computer assessment of daylighting |journal=Lighting Research and Technology |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=79–91 |year=1995 |s2cid=111215708 |doi=10.1177/14771535950270020201}}</ref>

In the cold winter, a natural light shelf is created when there is [[snow]] on the ground which makes it reflective. Low winter sun (see [[Sun path]]) reflects off the snow and increases solar gain through equator-facing glass by one- to two-thirds which brightly lights the ceiling of these rooms. Glare control (drapes) may be required.

====Prisms====
{{main|Prism lighting}}
[[File:Daylight Redirecting Film.jpg|thumb|Daylight redirecting film bending light upwards]]

The oldest use of prisms for daylighting may well be [[deck prism]]s, let into the decks of ships to transmit light below. Later, [[pavement light]]s or [[vault light]]s were used to light basement areas under sidewalks.<ref name="glassian">{{cite web|url=http://www.glassian.org/Prism/|title=Prism Glass {{!}} glassian|website=Glassian.org |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref>

Prisms that used [[total internal reflection]] to throw light sideways, lighting the deeper portions of a room, later became popular. Early thick, slow-cooling cast glass prism tiles were often known as "luxfer tiles" after a major manufacturer.<ref name=glassian/> They were and are used in the upper portions of windows, and some believe that they contributed to the trend from dark, subdivided Victorian interiors to open-plan, light-coloured ones.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

[[Daylight redirecting window film]] (DRF) is a thin plastic version of the old glass prism tiles. It can be used as a substitute for opaque blinds.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.serdp-estcp.org/Program-Areas/Energy-and-Water/Energy/Conservation-and-Efficiency/EW-201014|title=EW-201014 Fact Sheet|last=Noblis|website=Serdp-Estcp.org |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref>

====Light tubes====
{{Main|Light tube}}
[[File:Solatube 160 DS rafter cutaway.jpg|thumb|Tubular daylighting devices harvest sunlight and transmit it through a highly reflective tube into an interior space at the ceiling level]]
[[File:Sonnenrohr.svg|thumb|Diagram of a [[light tube]]]]

Another type of device used is the light tube, also called a tubular daylighting device (TDD), which is placed into a roof and admits light to a focused area of the interior. These somewhat resemble recessed ceiling light fixtures. They do not allow as much heat transfer as skylights because they have less surface area.

TDDs use modern technology to transmit visible light through opaque walls and roofs. The tube itself is a passive component consisting of either a simple reflective interior coating or a light conducting fiber optic bundle. It is frequently capped with a transparent, roof-mounted dome "light collector" and terminated with a diffuser assembly that admits the daylight into interior spaces and distributes the available light energy evenly (or else efficiently if the use of the lit space is reasonably fixed, and the user desired one or more "bright-spots").

The tubular daylighting device was invented by [[Solatube|Solatube International]] in 1986 and brought to market first in Australia in 1991.{{dubious|date=October 2017}}