Building With Style: Shedding Light Gracefully

I like to think of a skylight as a tool to solve a design problem, not a feature to be inserted at all costs into a house, like low-voltage lighting or an unglazed terra-cotta floor. As significant design elements, skylights demand careful consideration of several design and detailing issues. Good Places for Skylights There are some situations where skylights work well, including: • At the top of an interior staircase, to shed light on the lower floors and enliven the climb. • At an inside wall. Skylights are the only way to light a room that has no outside walls. They can also add natural light at the dark end of a deep room, balancing the glare from windows