On Pearl Street in the DUMBO neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, Alloy Development produced five new townhouses which won the SARA NY 2015 Bronze Award of Merit, as well as The Architect's Newspaper Best of 2015 Residential Multi-Family. To deliver the most comfortable, healthy and sustainable homes, the buildings were designed and built with the help of Right Environments, toward Passive House level performance.

In daylighting our buildings today, too often they get wrapped in glass resulting in a sexy shiny dress that is thermally uncomfortable and horribly energy inefficient - while overexposing the private lives of families.

Alloy's Dumbo Townhouses point to a much smarter way. The facades are carefully modulated between transparent and opaque surfaces that provide views and connection but do not overexpose. And at the core of the building, where daylighting is a challenge, Lamilux FE high-performance skylights are introduced.

Uniquely, the Lamilux FE skylights provide the desired natural connection while also providing absolute thermal, acoustic and comfort protection. In the city, or near highways and bridges, acoustic control can be an overriding comfort concern. (If you need proof, watch Floris demonstrate this fact in nearby Park Slope, Brooklyn, in a brownstone that also happened to install Lamilux FE skylights.) The exceptional acoustic deadening properties of the Lamilux FE were essential to this location, as it sits next to the rumbling trucks and trains moving over the Manhattan Bridge.

Occupant control of interior environment is another critical aspect of comfort so sunshades are operable and the skylights can be opened to provide natural ventilation when desired.

If you think rooftop daylighting will benefit your next building design, don't hesitate based on past experiences - go forward to what is possible with high-performance Lamilux daylighting systems. We can help you.