Bringing more daylight into a building shouldn’t mean ignoring the performance of the roof glazing.

Large areas of overhead glazing can completely transform an interior.

They can bring daylight deep into a floor plan, create a connection with the sky and turn spaces that might otherwise feel enclosed into some of the most impressive areas of a building.

But large roof glazing also deserves careful thermal consideration.

Every square metre of glazing forms part of the thermal envelope. As the glazed area increases, the performance of the glass, framing and supporting members becomes increasingly important.

Traditionally, large overhead glazing systems can require substantial aluminium rafters or supporting sections between individual panes. If these elements are not thermally isolated, they can create significant paths for heat transfer.

Harmony Array was developed specifically to address large fixed overhead-glazing applications.

The system combines individual thermally broken glazing modules with thermally isolated supporting rafters to create a larger integrated roof glazing system.

This allows architects to create substantial areas of natural light while still considering the thermal performance of the complete assembly.

Large overhead glazing also needs to be considered as part of the overall building design. Glass selection, solar heat gain, structural requirements, span, orientation and the amount of glazing all influence the final solution.

The objective should not simply be to make the opening as large as possible.

It should be to achieve the architectural impact of large-scale daylighting while designing the glazing system as a considered part of the building envelope.