Expert Spotlight: Indoor Sky

Founded in 2013, Indoor Sky is headquartered in Williamsport Pennsylvania. The company is dedicated to maximizing the benefit of daylight, the ultimate sustainable resource, within the built environment. 

Most conventional window treatments force you to choose between shading and daylight, while Indoor Sky’s solutions offer the best of both worlds. Their Dayliter Shading System solves the conflict between shading and daylight while actually expanding the interior daylight zone. 

When harvested correctly daylight has a positive impact on patient outcomes, learning, intellectual development and productivity. These unique shading systems enhance that value but also provide daylight and privacy in high-density residential settings.

The fact that they also help reduce energy consumption is a distinct bonus!

Form and Function

(The Cancer Institute at Penn State Hershey Medical Center)

The innovative use of rotatable fabric lightshelves, along with integral roller shades, is the unique key to managing the entry of glare-free daylight. These lightshelves may be used individually or in a “stack” to suit the goals of the designer and deployed at various angles to allow full daylight management on a daily and seasonal basis. 

While Dayliter and Skyliter Shades are available with manual worm drives, they come into their own when motorized! Whether the goal is to have a series of adjacent shades operate in harmony, by remote control or through building automation systems, or because they are simply out of reach, Somfy has a motor that meets that need.

Daylighting in Action

In this renovation application at the Flat Iron Building in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania the roller shades are driven by internal batteries powered by a small solar panel mounted inside the glass. This approach eliminated the need for expensive wiring to every window head, saving the owner a five figure electrical bill!

When it comes to large expanses of glazing, Indoor Sky offers their unique Skyliter Shading System that may be scaled up or down to suit the application. In the case of the construction of a new corporate boardroom at Jersey Shore State Bank in Williamsport, Pa the owner had to overcome a major heat gain issue created by an unprotected sloping glass facade.

The application included 54 independently mounted lightshelves that were motorized in gangs of six, using nine of Somfy’s larger A/C motors. The 16 channel remote allowed the owners to open and close the shades in their groups of six, in horizontal rows or the entire façade – providing total flexibility!

Each group of six lightshelves in this “tic-tac-toe” arrangement were connected to an LT50 RTS motor immediately above. The motor drives synchronized rotation in the lightshelves through a series of fine stainless steel wires.

Indoor Sky is committed to helping you maximize the benefit of daylight! Contact Indoor Sky to learn more!