Gallery: A Nanotech Skylight That Looks Just Like the Sun Shining Overhead

  • Image may contain Corner Building Architecture Window and Skylight
    Michael Loos
    01

    light-small-0001-Layer 1

    A breakthrough light fixture called [CoeLux](http://www.coelux.com/) uses LEDs and nano-materials to create a startling facsimile of sunlight.
  • Image may contain Furniture Chair Building Architecture Table Window Desk and Skylight
    Michael Loos
    02

    light-small-0000-Layer 2

    Accurately mimicking sunlight isn't just a matter of creating a perfect simulation of the sunlight's wavelength, but recreating a process called [Rayleigh scattering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering) where that light is subtly distorted by atmospheric particles.
  • Image may contain Building Architecture Window and Skylight
    Michael Loos
    03

    coelux-large-0002-Layer 3

    The innovation behind CoeLux is a custom nano material that recreates the effects of 6,200 miles of atmosphere into a sheet of plastic just a few millimeters thick.
  • Image may contain Building Architecture Window Skylight Interior Design and Indoors
    Michael Loos
    04

    coelux-large-0000-Layer 5

    CoeLux turns a basement washroom into a passable alternative to a Mediterranean spa.
  • Image may contain Plant Leaf Light Flare Sunlight Building Architecture and Outdoors
    Michael Loos
    05

    coelux-large-0001-Layer 4

    The fixtures feature no moving parts. Different qualities of light are created by manipulating the size and placement of the "hot spot," or the area of the fixture meant to represent the sun.
  • Even a perfect reproduction of the sun's spectrum fails in reproducing the natural light simply because it reproduces...
    Michael Loos
    06

    coelux-large-0003-Layer 2

    "Even a perfect reproduction of the sun's spectrum fails in reproducing the natural light simply because it reproduces the natural light on the Moon, and not on the Earth," says CoeLux co-founder Paolo Di Trapani.
  • Image may contain Furniture Chair Building Architecture Window and Skylight
    Michael Loos
    07

    coelux-large-0004-Layer 1

    Di Trapani believe CoeLux could allow for the creation of "groundscrapers," or buildings that stretch hundreds of feet into the ground.
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