Classroom Environment:Layout 1 01/07/2009 16:15 Page 65
the classroom environment
Left: Xtralite and Nanogel were used at Canning
Street School in Newcastle.
Below: Nanogel aerogel, comprising 95% air –
thought to be the world's lightest insulating
solid material. With or without Nanogel, windows
appear the same inside.
Working in comfort
Maximising daylight while minimising energy loss
Today, we appreciate just how much daylighting positively influences people, affects how
they behave in their environment and improves their well-being. Architect CHRISTOPHER
SYKES reports.
T
HIS IS particularly so with the schools is now being specified by
current design of schools. Some architects and technologists.
forms of daylighting, such as Nanogel, developed by the giant US
diffused lighting, have a calming effect Cabot Corporation, is a translucent
and a marked influence on pupil learning granular form of silica aerogel. Aerogel,
progress and their behaviour. comprising 95% air, is believed to be the
As Lyn Roberts, director of Monks world's lightest and best insulating solid
Park School in Bristol, says: “Diffused material. More effective than the highest-
daylighting has given the building a high grade fibre glass insulation, it can withstand
buzz factor. The classrooms have a visual the rigorous demands of both deep space
and physical impact with space and light. and underwater environments.
Our children have been changed by it, are The product of nanotechnology,
more focused and keen to learn.” Nanogel aerogel is a tangle of glass
Up until now, the big problem has been nanostrands which creates a navigational
to find ways of reconciling maximum dilemma for air moving through it,
areas of daylighting with stricter energy impeding its flow and, consequently,
management and much higher insulation stemming heat loss or solar gain. In fact,
requirements. One innovative new it is such a good insulator that it
ingredient that does remarkable things maintains its structure when subjected
for daylighting and energy-saving in to heat from a blowtorch in excess of4
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