If you are like the vast majority of Solatube clients, you’re most familiar with our flagship residential products, the 160 DS and the 290 DS. The 160 DS has a 250mm diameter collector and tube, and the 290 DS is a bit larger, with a 350mm diameter. Both are perfect choices for standard rafter and truss spacing on houses, multi-unit residential buildings and small commercial buildings, and they are our most popular and well-known products. We even have a full range of stylish light fixtures designed to fit them.
If you’re a builder or a design professional, then you might be familiar with some of Solatube’s larger diameter commercial tubular skylights, but have you taken a good look at the Skyvault M74 DS-O? It has a 740 mm diameter, but it’s more than just a bigger Solatube. It is our most sophisticated tubular daylighting system.
What is the SkyVault?
Skyvault is designed to provide serious lighting for seriously large spaces. Unlike the smaller models, it wasn’t designed to replace a standard globe; it’s much higher capacity. The SkyVault can replace high intensity commercial and institutional lighting; the kind you’d find in a library, a warehouse or an open-plan workspace. The Skyvault is generally installed as a cylindrical downlight in an unfinished ceiling, and the diffuser add-on is designed to refocus the light and direct it where it’s needed. The Skyvault can even act as a principal daytime light source for huge open spaces like airports and convention centres.
The SkyVault offers more light per unit area than our smaller tubular skylights, minimising the number of roof penetrations that are required and promoting building envelope integrity. With its large, cylindrical collector, it absorbs more light and produces intense illumination that can travel as far as 30 metres with minor losses, while simultaneously minimising ultraviolet and infrared rays. The light and heat output can both be adjusted, and the colour rendition is excellent. We’ve even won awards for the design. Which awards?
The Architectural Products Award For Innovation
The Skyvault is a relatively new product, and in 2013, it received Architectural Products’ Award For Innovation. Architectural Products is an American trade magazine aimed at industry professionals. One of the things it’s best known for is its annual awards for innovative new construction products, judged by a panel of 50 industry professionals.
The 2014 CONNECT Most Innovative New Product Award
The Skyvault has now been honoured a second time, receiving a CONNECT award for product innovation in the sustainability category. CONNECT is a San Diego area organisation that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship in local industry, and although Solatube’s home is in Australia, it is now an international company, and its US headquarters is in San Diego.
If you’re a contractor, an engineer or an architect, then the SkyVault is a new product you’ll want to add to your daylighting arsenal. Find out more on the SkyVault product page, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions.