COLOUR & LIGHT IN ARCHITECTURE International conference – venice 11-12 november 2010 The Light Cone in the Norwegian Office Building: Statoil at Stjørdal Barbara MATUSIAK Professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art, Trondheim, Norway E-mail: barbara.matusiak@ntnu.no Toshiki AOKI Master student, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art, Trondheim, Norway E-mail: tohiki.aoki@ntnu.no Randi PEDERSEN, Nina KIELLAND, Marit ENDRESEN Per Knudsen Arkitektkontor AS, Trondheim, Norway E-mail: nina.kielland@pka.no ABSTRACT The sunlight at high latitudes is characterized by a very low mean solar angle during the year (30º at noon, Oslo) and the “around the horizon” solar route. The solar glare is a challenge. The idea behind the Light Cone is to change the direction of sunbeams from near-horizontal to near- vertical. This is done with the help of a set of especially designed and scientifically tested mirrors, creating a nice 3-dimensional shape situated at the roof. The Light Cone is protected against the weather by a glass canopy. The sunbeams are reflected from the mirrors down to the ground floor through a cone-like space created with the help of circular floor openings with increasing diameters and a metallic web suspended around them. The Light Cone is also a form of artistic decoration, especially at the entrance hall. Visitors can admire a beautiful play of light at the surface of the web and a gradation of sunlight at the stone floor. Keywords : Daylight, Sunlight, Sky light, Reflector, Mirror, Light redirection, Architecture Design, 1. INTRODUCTION The sunlight at high latitudes is characterized by very low mean solar altitude during the year (30º at noon at the equinox in Oslo) and the “around the horizon” rather then “up and down” solar route. The solar glare is a serious challenge. How to utilize sunlight in buildings situated at high latitudes? The most typical method is transmission through windows and/or skylights equipped with different forms of solar shading devices. The most common sun shading systems for windows in office buildings situated at high latitudes are traditional internal venetian blinds. In apartment buildings different types of roller blinds and curtains are used. All those traditional systems transmit only a little part of solar radiation, the most part is reflected back to the atmosphere. To increase the usage of solar radiation in buildings many ideas of new daylighting systems have been developed in the last 20 years. Köster [5] developed a series of effective solar shading systems for windows having retro-reflective facets, Scartezzini [8] worked with anidolic light concentrating systems for windows and skylights, Whitehead [9] at el. developed a core sunlighting system with a series of sun tracking mirrors fixed on facades and a transport system enabling delivery of sunlight deeply into the building. A wide spectrum of new systems was tested and described in connection with the CIE Task 21 Ruck [7] and a very good overview of those systems was published by Kischkoweit-Lopin [4]. Daylighting systems and components were also classified, described and experimentally analyzed within the framework of the European Concerted Action Programme on Daylighting, Baker [2, 3]. Some of the ideas and