PEAK OF EFFICIENCY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 115, 12 November 1930, Page 11

PEAK OF EFFICIENCY

LATEST IN BUILDINGS

NO WINDOWS PROVIDED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) NEW YORK, 3rd September. Fantastic as it may seem, windowless buildings are being designed by architects for New York and other 'American cities. Some of the buildings are already in course of erection. The idea of the windowlcss building is three-fold: to provide uniform artificial sunlight in all parts of the room; to keep the atmosphere free of germs, and to do away with the leakage of air around window frames. Tests show that, with a moderate breeze blowing outside, about 60 cubic feet of air leaked round each, window 'every minute, making it impossible to regulate the physical qualities of the air inside. In a test made in a London office- it was found that a little before noon the light over a desk at the window was 200 times as great as at the spot most remote from the window. Indoor daylight costs many times as much as artificial light. There are several elements of cost. Windows are much more expensive to build than "blank walls; they occupy valuable wall space; they increase- heating costs; their washing is a big item of expense; the light they admit causes most kinds of hangings and decorations to fade more than does artificial light. Last, but not least, the space now devoted to admitting daylight in many large, buildings could, if artificial light were substituted for daylight, be utilised in such a way as to earn revenue vastly exceeding the cost of lighting. Artificial light can be evenly distributed through rooms; it can be freed from'glare; it can be given daylight colout if desired; or it can bo supplied in the "warm" hues that most people prefer, except for special purposes, to the whiteness of daylight. Eventually it will, no doubt, be dosed to whatever extent hygienists may deem desirable with the ultra-violet rays that are largely filtered out of daylight by window-glass and by the dusty air of cities. Illuminating engineers can nonsupply indoor light much better for health and vision than is ordinarily obtained by means of windows in the average 'city. Light biology, as the study is known, is now attracting an unprecedented amount of attention throughout the world.