• Thermal Delight in Architecture Lisa Heschong

    The Skylid

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    The louvers automatically open to let solar radiation in when the sun shines and close in the evening to prevent radiant heat loss, controlled and driven by the shifting weight of freon.

    We look into the greenhouse and watch the Skylids closing automatically, one by one and in no particular order, and we are aware of the hot air rising, cold air settling. They remind us that the earth is turning and the day is ending.

    The mechanical response of the Skylid, predictable but inexact, seems more alive than an electrical system controlled by a thermostat, which would close or open all the louvers at once.