REFLEX

High buildings and dense network of streets create the environment, where the direct sunlight in the window becomes a luxury.
Building high and building dense is the characteristic of many big cities in the world. Gaining as much usable floor space as possible is a common practise. This brings the developer to build even higher and even more dense. This is strongly influencing the quality of life in the city and creates a situation, where the access to the sunlight, so important to peoples physical and mental health, becomes a luxury.

Reflex is a project created as a solution to brighten the north front of the building.
Reflective screens brought on the building facing the south side direct the rays of sunlight to the neighbours, who gets much less sunlight.
Screens are built of the modular elements, which can be combined together and freely arranged on the wall. The surface is diffusing the light in the soft way. It is not blending and has a bigger tolerance for the changes of the sun position o the sky.

Laser cut elements can be fold form the flat sheet of into a three dimensional structure, which has many little surfaces set in different angles. This diversity allows to collect more sunlight during the day, while the sun position on the sky is changing.

For the installation in Szpitalna street (Warsaw/photographs) the number of screens is divided into 3 groups, corresponding to the sun position on the sky in winter / spring and autumn / summer months.
The panels from different groups have the angles optimised to the time of the year.
To decide about the position angles numeric calculations were made. The goal was to obtain the even intensity of the reflexion during the day and during the year.

Inspiration to work on this project is my own experience. I was leaving in the apartment, with windows facing to the east only. The sun was falling into the rooms in the morning.
I remember very good the moments, when in the afternoon, we've got for a short moment an extra sunlight reflected from the windows of the opposite building. It was always a delight.

In 2014 project was awarded the first prize in the competition BMW/URBAN/TRANSFORMS organised by the Bęc Zmiana Foundation and BMW Group Polska.

First prototypical installation of Reflex screens is mounted in the backyard of Szpitalna str. 6 in Warsaw, Poland.