Lighting Design and Simulation Knowledgebase
The most effective way to bring daylight into a building (besides opening the roof) are reflecting elements in front of the facade.
Exterior reflectors "see" a very big portion of the sky. For this reason they can transport more light into a building through the vertical facade than most systems following other principles.
The efficacy of reflectors can be significantly enhanced through a specifically curved shape. This type of curve is derived from research on nonimaging optics, and requires custom design and construction.
Prism panels are primarily applied for solar protection, sice they shield against a narrow angle of incident light. But some (mostly asymmetric) variations can also be used for daylight redirection. The normal vector of the panels should always correspond to the solar altitude.
