Enhance Comfort with Natural Light Control

Photo credit: Umbra Shading

If you think back to the first article, where we began with waking up to a beautiful sunrise, and how doing that energises you, and initiates your next sleep-wake cycle. Now imagine that scenario with automated blinds slowly opening to allow that beautiful sunshine into your room. It’s has quite the appeal!

Waking Up to the Perfect Light

Beyond the romance of waking up to automated blinds slowly opening, allowing the daylight to fill your room, there are substantial benefits to incorporating automated blinds in any project. In fact, we have been known to suggest that allocating the lighting control budget in a project, on automated shading instead, can offer greater benefits to the client.

Now, that may seem like a strange suggestion, so allow us to explain our reasoning. 

It is not uncommon for residential and hospitality projects these days to feature large windows throughout, and for good reason. We like to feel connected with the outside, and given how much time we spend inside, large windows allow nature in while we still enjoy the comforts of being indoors. 

However this comes at a cost, and this is where automated shading can be hugely beneficial.

A Sustainable Solution

With a well-designed automated control solution, you can do clever things like tracking the path of the sun. When the sun reaches the floor to ceiling windows, the blinds can be automated to open or close depending on varying requirements within the room:

• Reducing solar gain to prevent AC triggering

• Protecting you and your delicate interior from harmful UV rays

Even if you’re not tracking the sun, but simply monitoring the temperature in the room, you can again close the blinds to reduce solar gain, and prevent the AC from triggering, leading to greater comfort in the room.

On the other hand, during cooler periods of the year, you can do the opposite - open the blinds to allow the suns heat to naturally warm the room, preventing the heating system from coming on before it needs to.

This ability to improve a buildings energy efficiency shows there are long term savings to be considered with automation. 

So now we understand that automated blinds can improve energy efficiency, leading to greater comfort within the home or hotel, what other benefits are there?

Harnessing Sunlight for Well-Being

Revisiting the importance of sleep from the previous article, we can also use automated blinds to enhance rest.

It is the end of your day, you have prepared yourself for bed and set your night scene in your home, hotel room or cabin. Instantly blackout blinds close to block out any external light. This blocking out of external light is important for ensuring a restful night’s sleep, especially if you live in a bustling city with lots of external light, are staying in a hotel, or even on board where external deck lights remain on at night. 

The ability to block out light when sleeping is essential for allowing the body to remain asleep, helping you to fully rest and recover for the next day. 

Another often overlooked benefit is the ability to bring comfort through security. Automated shading prevent outsiders from seeing inside, providing peace of mind to owners and guests, whether they are in the property or away. The blinds can be lowered at any time of day or night, to improve privacy.

Photo credit: Umbra Shading

Why Automated Blinds May Outperform Traditional Lighting Control

Finally, let’s compare automated blinds and lighting control to see how one can sometimes outperform the other. Essentially, if a project includes floor to ceiling windows, in an area with abundant natural light, then a well-designed blind control solution could favour strongly over lighting control. The ability to manage natural light in a space without relying on artificial light offers endless health benefits, as we featured in our [previous article] discussing the benefits of Human Centric Lighting.

Ultimately, when entering the design phase of any project, we encourage you to consider the above benefits of a well-designed automated blind control solution. Harnessing this technology can greatly improve the comfort of your clients. 

Choosing the Right Solution - Custom Options from Top Brands

Manufacturers such as Lutron, Crestron & Umbra offer incredibly well designed products, in custom lengths and finishes to suit any design preference. With blind motors now quieter and smoother than ever, we believe it’s an exciting time to be choosing automated blinds for your projects. 

If you have any questions regarding the information above, or would like to see samples of blinds from Lutron, Crestron or Umbra, please get in touch.