SkyDome

SkyDome – Welsh School of Architecture

Visit on 21st April 2016

"[SkyDome] accurately simulates external natural lighting conditions; those arising from the sun, sky, and clouds, and the reflections from the ground and nearby structures. It can do so for all weather conditions, seasons, and locations. At eight metres in diameter this facility is one of the largest available."

I learned about SkyDome whilst carrying out research for my contextual review and immediately decided that I needed to visit to understand how it is used and the data it provides for architectural designers and, more to the point, whether it could be useful in my own research and development of my final body of work. The dome uses 640 luminaires to create sky conditions and a large, very bright lamp to simulate the sun. Inside there is a revolving platform which can be set to move at whatever speed is required in order to simulate 24 hours or 365 days or whatever is needed. There are many more technical details about SkyDome on the WSA's website, linked in the title of this post.

Exciting!

The day I visited was a bit surreal as I decided I'd do it as a round-trip from Newcastle! In theory that's about 12 hours of driving, but ended up being much more due to various holds on the M6 there and back! Despite this, I had a fantastic day, both at WSA and also exploring south Wales.

My guide was Huw Jenkins, WSA’s Commercial Manager at the Centre for Research in the Built Environment, original developer and long-standing facilitator of SkyDome. I have to say right from the start here that he was just brilliant with me! I'd expected he might do a bit of an overview and maybe a quick demo and that would be that. And to be honest, I'd still have been very pleased with that. However, he quickly engaged with my project and its aim... and lifted up the door to SkyDome and invited me to bring my work into it where he set up various test environments. It was great being inside of the dome in person. It is quite a large space and all looks very technological, whilst at the same time looking like a giant Meccano model!!

Huw set up a number of test conditions so we could explore the effects of light from different angles at various strengths and at different accelerations:

1. 2 very accelerated days run clockwise and anti-clockwise with the sun at 5˚ above the horizon.

2. 1 accelerated day at latitude of 90˚ north on 21st March 2016 (spring equinox at the North Pole).

3. 1 accelerated day at latitude of 70˚ north on 21st March 2016 (spring equinox in the Arctic Circle).

- This was tested twice, with and without a backdrop for the work.

We made quite a few videos in relation to the above tests, all of which were done on my phone, clamped to a stand so that it would revolve with the work.

Spring in the Artic Circle - author's own video (please ask before downloading)

These tests gave me a beginner’s appreciation of the software and electronics behind SkyDome - and the exciting possibilities it holds... Being able to do these 'live' tests made me think about some things I hadn't really considered, for example:

• The smallest tweak to the angle of the work can completely change both its own illumination and the shadows it creates.
• The backdrop to the work is so significant. The jagged shape of the backdrop we used brought a whole new range of interesting shadows and effects into play.
• The way that light almost 'dripped' down the sculpture when we aimed the 'sun' directly at it, momentarily highlighting each edge of the piercings in turn as it moved downwards. I really liked this! 

Dripping with sunshine - author's own video (please ask before downloading)

We spent about 2 hours in SkyDome, trying the work in different positions. Huw was keen to try all possibilities and I'm sure he would have happily stayed there all day and played in the dome - ha ha. It was just great. I felt really inspired by his ideas and his general enthusiasm for the creative process. Sparked by one of my double-skin test pieces, he told me an interesting story about one of his students who is trying to design windows that can let light through but which cannot be seen through (for female students who need to remove their religious face coverings during lab work and other studies). I decided to leave this test piece with Huw so he could show it to the student - and as a bit of thank you for his time.

This visit left with me no doubt that test environments such as these are invaluable for designers. With a modicum of understanding of the science of lighting, and no use of modelling software, scale drawings or mathematical calculations, I was able to obtain accurate visual data in real time. Working with an enthusiastic researcher and having the ability to make instant small or significant tweaks to the physical position of the model led to a number of surprising discoveries about the way the models responded to light. I realised how significant and important these kind of collaborations can be – even this (relatively) short session led to so many new lines of inspiration and enquiry.

One more thing - Huw pointed out that energy efficiency is now key in all lighting design that the School is involved with and he suggested I take this into account for my own work if I am going to use artificial lighting in my final design.


WSA has moved to using purely computer-based modelling for many architecture design projects recently. Whilst recognising the value of these approaches, Huw believes that facilities such as SkyDome still have much to lend the process of design and analysis, and he continues to support and encourage its use. I hope to return to WSA further down the line of my personal project to test developed models in their eventual intended latitude.