Around the world, artists, architects and engineers are designing and building daylight reflectors to amplify daylight or redirect sunlight into dark spaces.

Bordering on science fiction, these works defy our imagination. But they are very real. Here is a selection of unusual daylight reflectors that inspire us. We invite you to discover them. We included ourselves in this list because Espaciel designed and manufactured one of them.

An emblematic building of German democracy, the Reichstag was brought back into service following the country's reunification. British architect Norman Foster was responsible for its renovation in 1998. The assembly of deputies is lit by a glass roof, itself topped by a glass dome. At its centre, a flared column clad in reflectors draws light down into the building.

Nestling in the heart of an Alpine valley, the village of Viganella is in the shade most of the year. Pierfranco Midali, the village mayor, decided to place a reflector at an altitude of 1,100 m, on the sunny side of the mountain, to bring down the sun and illuminate the village. A challenge met by architect Giacomo Bonzani, who oversaw the project in 2006.

The D12 road between Saint Jean de Sixt and Entremont runs through a steep gorge. It is protected from landslides by the Des Etroits road tunnel. Reflectors illuminate the inside of the road gallery and mark out the cycle path using natural light. This pilot project was carried out in 2020 by Espaciel and Alpes Ecologie, on the initiative of the Centre d'Etude des Tunnels, Nature et Confort and the Haute Savoie département.

In 1992, opera director Humbert Camerlo asked engineer Peter Rice to design a theatre lit solely by the light of the Moon. The team created a series of reflectors, each named after a great astronomer: Archimedes, Aristarchus, Copernicus and Kepler.

It is thought that the Egyptians used reflectors to light the galleries of the pyramids. The smoke from the oil torches made their use impossible. Instead, a succession of reflectors, manipulated and directed by hand, allowed the sun to shine into the heart of the building. This hypothesis was taken up and illustrated in a scene from Luc Besson's 1997 film The Fifth Element.

We hope you find these unusual reflectors inspiring. If you too would like to bring more natural light into your home, discover our range of Daylight Reflectors on the Espaciel website.

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