Boston, MA VELUX America has introduced a line of modular commercial skylights in the US that marks a shift in the evolution of traditional commercial skylights in this country.  Designed in cooperation with architects from London-based Foster+Partners, ventilation and sunscreening components are subtly integrated within the skylight design.  This fully prefabricated skylight concept offers the same benefits to commercial buildings that VELUX residential skylights offer to homeowners.

Ridgelight 40o fitted with roller blinds in SIEMENS Headquarters - Ballerup, Denmark

Ross Vandermark, national product manager for VELUX America, says that the company has already partnered with Foster+Partners in the installation of various models of the skylights in a number of locations.  “Nearly 400 of the VELUX modular skylights have been specified for the new international airport in Panama City, Panama and another installation has been completed at Cornell University, the home of the first four-year architectural school in this country,” he said.

According to Mike Rhoden, commercial sales representative with VELUX America, the skylight system is unique to VELUX and to the skylight world where commercial daylighting is concerned.  “There is no structural framing between the skylights,” he says, “where typically with commercial skylights the opening is filled with a metal framework and then individual sheets of glass are applied in a complicated and lengthy process.  This is a complete unitized system that is fitted over the opening on a site-built curb.”  Rhoden says that the system offers installation speed with a pre-designed, pre-engineered system with no value engineering necessary in the field.  “There is no caulking, no putty, no welding, no boring, no soldering – it’s a complete package solution,” he says. 

The skylights will be available in fixed and venting configurations and shades are custom-built for each unit.  Custom sizing, colors and glazings are also available.

Commenting on energy efficiency considerations, Vandermark points out that the VELUX-supplied control system allows for integration of the shades and skylight window motors into a building energy management system.  “This not only provides daylight and fresh air,” he says, “but also enables automated climate control to help offset HVAC energy loads.”

“Foster+Partners was instrumental in not only choosing materials for the product but in the design and in making sure that aesthetically we took commercial skylights to a different level,” Rhoden said.