Providence Breeze Advanced Ambulatory Care Center
Torrance, California
Intermediate Light Shelves
Light shelves are high-reflecting horizontal overhangs that divide windows between the viewable portion and the top part that lets in additional natural light, bouncing it upward and reflecting it off the ceiling to allow for daylight to penetrate deeper into the floorplate while helping to shade the windows and reduce the probability of glare. As a rule of thumb, the depth of a light shelf should be the same as the height of the vertical glass panel above it, so that the light will bounce a distance of about two and a half times that height.
Climate zones that use this strategy
Reference projects
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Campus East
Fort Belvoir, Virginia