In profile: Seeing the light
Christoph ReinhartPhoto: Dominick Reuter Light is an important commodity in real estate: A nice splash of direct sunshine can lift the value of any house or apartment. But sunlight is a housing asset in another way. A healthy dose of it means any given building can use solar power extensively, as a potentially cheaper and more environmentally friendly energy option.Christoph Reinhart’s work is all about that daylight, and its effects: how people respond to light in buildings, and how it can be used more effectively. His approach is heavily empirical. Trained in both physics and architecture, Reinhart has spent years engaged in the close study of buildings and occupant behavior, in the process trying to get engineering and architecture more closely integrated in the design process. Too often, Reinhart says, people — architects, planners, prospective tenants — visualize a structure soaked in continual sunlight as if it “sits by itself in...