Sunlight the heart of Canada’s embassy in Berlin

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Sunlight is now penetrating the heart of Canada’s architecturally acclaimed embassy in Berlin, Germany, with the help of Canadian daylighting technology.

The installation of 20 light-channelling optic devices known as sunbeamers in Timber Hall — the largest room in the nine-year-old embassy— addresses the overshadowing from adjacent buildings and funnels full-spectrum sunlight to previously inaccessible areas.

Timber Hall’s copper-clad, multi-purpose space showcases Canadian art fixtures, such as a suspended aluminum and glass compass ring skylight which floats below the top of the room. The sunbeamers are latched onto the hall’s existing skylight, employing innovative optics to capture and bend natural light.

“As part of the overall Embassy facility, Timber Hall is an iconic and unique architectural structure and a beautiful space graced with an overhead skylight, but the height of the structure and the shade of surrounding buildings at times created a dark atmosphere,” explains Guthrie Cox, CEO of SunCentral, the manufacturer of the sunbeamers. “We were pleased to be able to design a solution that helps shine constant and even daylight into Timber Hall, creating a remarkable experience with this world-class technology.”