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SmartLight was a proposed daylighting system, not a documented retail product or completed building installation. Its designers envisioned electrofluidic prisms in window glazing steering sunlight through the open space below a ceiling and onward through transoms into rooms deeper inside a building. The concept’s stated goal was to validate its functionality; a 2013 report says the team was still seeking funding to pursue commercial development.
How SmartLight was designed to move daylight indoors
The Buckminster Fuller Institute’s SmartLight profile describes a thin film of small electrofluidic prisms applied to parts of a building’s glazing. In the proposed design, those prisms would redirect incoming sunlight away from the façade and into the ceiling-level zone. From there, light could travel deeper into the building and pass through transoms above doors or clerestory openings into interior rooms.
The profile also proposed sending surplus light to centralized photovoltaic or solar-thermal capture. These were design intentions, not documented outputs from a completed SmartLight installation. The profile states that the proposal’s objective was to validate the system’s concept and functionality.
What “electrofluidic” means here
A November 7, 2013 New Atlas account describes cells a few millimeters wide, filled with fluid. The proposed mechanism would manipulate the fluid’s surface tension so each cell could form a lens or prism and steer light. The developers envisioned ambient ceiling illumination, localized workspace lighting, and passing daylight to another room equipped with an electrofluidic grid.
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Smartphone control and occupancy-responsive behavior were also described as planned features, not demonstrated capabilities. SmartLight was therefore more than a proposal for a fixed reflective surface, but the available accounts do not establish that its active controls worked in a building.
Was SmartLight built or made available to buy?
The historical sources establish a proposal and an early development effort, not a current product or deployment. In 2013, developer Jason Heikenfeld said the team had completed seed work but was seeking substantial funding to assemble a commercially driven program. He described turning the concept into commercial products as the difficult next step.
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“How do you translate that into commercial products?”
That question, quoted in the 2013 New Atlas report, captures the project’s documented status at the time. Neither that report nor the Buckminster Fuller Institute profile establishes whether SmartLight was later commercialized or installed. On the evidence available in these sources, it should not be presented as a system that can be specified, purchased, or retrofitted today.
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Heikenfeld also explained the design rationale: “You’re using space that’s entirely available already.” He argued that the ceiling-level zone could provide a light path without a bulky moving mechanism. That is the developer’s description of the idea, not evidence that retrofit installation was achieved.
How SmartLight compares with other daylight-redirection approaches
Several building technologies aim to carry or redirect daylight, but they are not interchangeable. Their mechanisms, installation locations, controls, and evidence differ. The examples below are separate systems or technology classes, not SmartLight variants or products proven to share its performance.
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| Approach | Where and how it redirects light | Control or supplementation | Evidence described by the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SmartLight proposal | Proposed electrofluidic-prism film on glazing; sunlight would travel through the ceiling-level zone and through transoms or clerestories into deeper rooms. | Smartphone and occupancy-responsive control were envisioned. Surplus light was proposed for centralized photovoltaic or solar-thermal capture. | Concept proposal whose stated objective was to validate functionality; the profile does not report a completed building deployment. Buckminster Fuller Institute profile |
| Static optical louver | A fixed optical system at a south-facing clerestory was compared with a conventional Venetian blind in a full-scale office testbed. | The cited study compares a static optical system and a blind; it does not establish SmartLight-style electrofluidic control. | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers reported test-specific glare and seasonal findings in a 2015 study. Konis and Lee study |
| Daylight-redirection technologies evaluated at FLEXLAB | The LBNL summary identifies thin-film coatings with microscopic features and automated shading combinations among the technology classes studied. | Varied by technology; the summary does not provide a SmartLight comparison. | PG&E commissioned a six-month monitored evaluation of four technologies. LBNL reports energy savings of up to 63% for the studied technologies. LBNL FLEXLAB summary |
| BASF and Bartenbach daylight-guidance system | Film embedded in insulated glass directed light into a reflective-film shaft. | LED-equipped fixtures supplemented daylight when it was insufficient. | BASF’s 2018 announcement said an initial prototype was in use at Bartenbach’s Austrian headquarters. This is a separate system, not evidence of SmartLight commercialization. BASF announcement |
| MIT Media Lab Personal Sunlight | A robotically actuated mirror tracked the sun and used wall and ceiling surfaces to provide diffuse light. | The project used motion and occupancy sensing. | A separate research project, not a SmartLight predecessor or product. MIT Media Lab project page |
What the measured results do—and do not—show
Glare performance depends on the tested system and conditions
In their 2015 study, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers Kyle S. Konis and Eleanor S. Lee compared a static optical louver with a conventional Venetian blind in a full-scale office testbed with a south-facing clerestory window. They report seasonal variation. The optical louver did not exceed the study’s designated window-glare threshold of 2,000 cd/m². During the specified August 22 to October 12 equinox period, the Venetian blind exceeded its visual-discomfort threshold for 40–64% of the test day. Those findings apply to that test, its systems, and its conditions—not to SmartLight.
Energy savings are not a SmartLight result
LBNL’s FLEXLAB summary says PG&E commissioned a six-month monitored study of four daylight-redirection technologies, assessing energy savings, comfort, and indoor environmental quality. LBNL reports “up to 63% energy savings” for the technologies studied. This is an upper reported result for that evaluation, not a measured SmartLight outcome or a result that applies to every daylight-redirection product.
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Daylight may need electric-light backup
The BASF/Bartenbach announcement describes LED fixtures supplementing daylight when it was insufficient. That design detail illustrates a practical consideration for a separate system: available daylight is not necessarily adequate at every time or in every condition. It does not establish how SmartLight would have performed or what supplementation its proposed installations would have required.
What to assess when considering daylight redirection in a building
For an actual project, evaluate a specific system and building rather than extrapolating from SmartLight’s concept or another technology’s test results. Relevant questions include:
- Light path: Where does the system collect daylight, and how does it carry or redirect it into the occupied space?
- Distribution: How far does daylight travel, and how evenly does it reach work areas?
- Glare and seasonal response: What evidence addresses glare under the building’s orientation, climate, and operating conditions?
- Controls and backup: Does the system adjust automatically, and how does it coordinate with electric lighting when daylight is inadequate?
- Construction fit: What glazing, ceiling-level space, transoms, shafts, or other building elements must be available? Is the proposed installation new construction or a verified retrofit?
- Evidence maturity: Is the offering a proposal, a prototype, or an independently measured installation? Ask for results from the exact system being considered.
These checks matter because daylight redirection is not a single technology with a single performance profile. The cited studies cover other systems, and their measured results cannot substitute for project-specific evidence about SmartLight.
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