Principle Nine

There Should be Abundant Light, Air and Ventilation.

This naturally well-lit interior exemplifies the principle of abundant interior light from the outside.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.  (Genesis 1:1-5, ESV)

FeelGood Homes use natural light as the primary source of daytime illumination.

There are several benefits from this feature;

  • It creates a visually comfortable place that is connected to the garden, neighborhood and sky;
  • It minimises  the need for electric lighting, thus saving energy;
  • it provides the mental and visual stimulation necessary to regulate human circadian rhythms.

Recent research has drawn attention to the effect of daylight on human health and biological functions.  According to most sources, we humans  spend around 90 percent of our lives indoors.  By allowing as much daylight as possible into our homes, we gain maximum association with the natural outdoor cycles and variation of illuminance levels.

Although daylight can be an unpredictable source of light,  it is nevertheless rich in the short-wavelength portion of the visible spectrum that has been found to support both alertness and our ability to synchronise our internal clocks with the cycle of day and night.

Aesthetically, the seasonal variability of interior daylight illumination, along with views to the outdoors, makes any space more pleasurable and interesting for its occupants.

In addition to the vase of flowers, the Brahmasthan of this house is further highlighted by sunlight channeled through a cupola.

Ventilation

Would you like to breathe the same air that you were breathing last week, or would you prefer to be breathing clean, fresh air more often?

An ideal ventilation system gives you maximum control over

  • how often the air changes within your house;
  • the temperature of the air;
  • the cleanliness of the air

at minimal cost.

In a FeelGood® home we aim to change the air in all the living areas and bedrooms every few hours.  In the kitchen and bathrooms it should change up to six times per hour, especially when someone  is cooking or using the shower.

It’s important that these air changes don’t cause wastage of heat or coolness in your home, so we incorporate a system that looks like this diagram below:

 

FeelGood® Homes meet all the ventilation targets with a simple air circulation system that performs in the following manner:

  • Incoming air is filtered to remove pollutants;
  • the air is then heated, cooled or allowed to pass unaltered, depending on the temperature you wish to experience;
  • a fan pushes the fresh air into every room of the house through a network of ducts;
  • stale air is extracted from each room through separate ducts;
  • as stale air leaves the house, a heat exchanger captures energy from it, which is then applied to modify the temperature of the fresh air going in.

 

How a heat exchanger works in summer. 
In winter, cold, fresh air from outside coming into the house is warmed by the hot .stale air as it leaves the house.

 

 Light plus air around the kitchen – an optional feature in the FeelGood Bennelong.