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Author: Maria-Therese Hoppe
Gyldendal
ISBN 978-87-02-07610-3
There are inventions that change the world. This one at the very least changed the roofs of Europe: in 1941, Danish engineer Villum Kann Rasmussen developed the first roof window that could compete with facade windows in terms of protection from the wind and rain for an architect friend. In order to market it, he established a company and called it after the most important qualities that his invention aimed to bring to the house: VE for ventilation and LUX for light. In the period of reconstruction after the Second World War, VELUX roof windows became landmarks in the architecture of European cities – both in the city centres and new-build areas. |
Rasmussen recognised how he should market his windows early on: he targeted home owners’ desire for more living space and light rather than focusing on his own product. On the occasion of the founder’s 100th birthday VELUX, together with Danish author Maria-Therese Hoppe, published a book that is completely in the spirit of this philosophy. Living in Daylight presents over 50 reference projects with VELUX roof windows – but does not focus on the technical or design aspects of each building. The stories that the residents have to tell were important to the publishers and author. Many of these characters are just as unique as their homes: the water colour artist in her workshop above the roofs of Paris, the German doctor who emigrated to the Norwegian wilderness, or the young Estonian foreign minister who reveals himself in the book as a family man and nature-lover.
However Living in Daylight also documents the fact that roof windows have now also become part of our cultural history. There is hardly any location where they cannot be found – this applies equally to the Palais de Justice in the heart of Paris, the Portuguese parliament building and Copenhagen’s hippie town Christiana. You can find roof windows in new builds in Turkey, renovated city homes in Bucharest and converted barns in the British countryside.
Maria-Therese Hoppe visited all of these places and records how people live and work in their rooms and what the daylight and room through the roof windows means to them. The top quality photos throughout show the buildings and residents in a sensitive manner, often from an unfamiliar perspective but without any tendency to over-stage them as is occasionally the case in architectural publications. The book is rounded off by a brief historical overview, not only of VELUX and the history of the roof window but also of how our perceptions of home have changed over time.