Creating Better Learning Environments with Daylighting Design

Second only to homes, classrooms are the most important indoor environments for children. They can shape more than the school day, influencing focus, energy, comfort, and overall well-being for everyone who walks through the doors.

In schools and universities, the built environment plays an important role in how students, educators, administrators, and staff feel and perform. Classrooms and campus buildings should do more than meet functional needs. They should support the people inside them.

That requires a more holistic approach to design, one that considers the connections among physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being. With thoughtful access to natural light and fresh air, architects and builders can help create brighter, healthier learning environments that support students and staff throughout the day.

At VELUX Commercial, we are passionate about bringing daylight and fresh air into educational spaces to help create schools designed for comfort, wellbeing, and long-term performance.

Let's review three key areas where architecture can promote a happier, healthier space by adding abundant daylight and fresh air.

1. Physical Health

Did you know children spend around 200 days a year in school, with roughly 70 percent of their time inside a classroom? Since schools are among the key indoor spaces for students, a lack of adequate natural daylight exposure can disrupt children's circadian rhythms, ultimately impacting their overall physical health.

With the rise of artificial lighting and easy-to-access electronics, it can be hard for children and teenagers' bodies to balance day and night. The body responds by remaining alert, which sets the stage for insufficient sleep and diminished sleep quality. Studies have even shown that delayed bedtimes without the opportunity to catch up on sleep are linked to poor school performance and behavioral problems.

By adding natural light from skylights or Commercial Sun Tunnel® tubular skylights to classroom settings, students and staff benefit from natural daylight to regulate their body clocks and to rest, repair, and rejuvenate.

Above: Altara Elementary in Sandy, UT. Architect: Curtis Miner Architecture. Installation: Intrigue Architectural Systems

2. Emotional Health

School settings can be stressful enough as it is, with pop quizzes and all the new health and safety protocols. Designing classrooms that counteract stress is key to promoting happier, healthier places to learn and thrive.

Giving students the right balance of natural light directly impacts their bodies and minds. With more exposure to daylight, the body releases serotonin and increases Vitamin D production for mood-lifting benefits. These chemical changes have been shown to promote a calmer and more focused demeanor and ward off depression.

Without enough daylight, students are at risk of developing seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is directly linked to depression and increased stress levels. Surrounding students and teachers with daylight creates happier spaces that lift moods and ease anxiety and stress, fostering a healthier environment for learning where students can flourish together.

3. Cognitive Health

Students should reap all the benefits of in-person classroom settings to make the most of this valuable time together. The right classroom design is vital and can increase student performance and concentration, raising the bar on our standards of education.

Did you know that incorporating natural daylight into a classroom has been shown to improve student performance by up to 20 percent on math and reading-related tasks? Removing barriers to learning and comprehension in lighter, brighter classrooms may be the boost we need to ensure schools maintain their performance while fostering spaces that inspire, invigorate, and infuse health across their student body.

Best Commercial Daylighting Solutions for Educational Spaces

Choosing the right daylighting solution starts with understanding the space. Large gathering areas, classrooms, corridors, offices, and smaller interior rooms all have different requirements for light distribution, ventilation, installation, and roof compatibility.

The options below can help project teams match the right VELUX Commercial solution to the needs of each educational space.

VELUX Modular Skylights

VELUX Modular Skylights are a strong fit for schools and universities looking for a streamlined way to bring daylight and fresh air into larger spaces. Because the system is prefabricated, it supports efficient installation while delivering a consistent, high-quality finish across the project.

For educational buildings, modular skylights can be used in classrooms, libraries, corridors, atriums, and shared learning areas where daylight, ventilation, and design flexibility all matter.

View Modular Skylight Brochure

Sun Tunnel Tubular Skylights

Small or enclosed spaces can be some of the hardest areas to reach with natural light. VELUX Commercial Sun Tunnel Tubular Skylights offer a cost-effective way to bring daylight into interior rooms, corridors, restrooms, offices, storage areas, and other confined spaces throughout schools and universities.

Ideal for flat and low-slope roofs, tubular skylights are easy to install and can help make underutilized areas feel brighter and more connected to the rest of the building. Learn more about different dome types and how our SunCurve technology works in our online brochure.

Pinnacle Series Metal-Framed Skylights

For educational spaces that require a more customized daylighting approach, our Pinnacle Series structural skylights offer design flexibility, durability, and long-term performance. These systems can be configured for a wide range of roof conditions and architectural needs, making them well-suited for new construction, renovation, and replacement projects.

From cafeterias and common areas to gymnasiums, atriums, and academic buildings, metal-framed skylights can help introduce balanced daylight into spaces where structure, performance, and visual impact are all important.

Translucent Wall Systems

Not every daylighting solution has to come from above. VELUX Commercial Translucent Wall Systems help bring soft, diffused daylight through vertical surfaces, making them a practical option for educational spaces that need natural light, privacy, and visual comfort. From academic buildings to athletic facilities, translucent wall systems give schools and universities another way to create brighter, more functional spaces across campus.

Curious how these daylighting solutions perform in the real world? Check out our case studies for educational buildings, featuring projects across the country that used VELUX Commercial skylights to enhance the learning environment.

Learn to Design Brighter, Healthier Learning Spaces

Educational spaces should be designed to support the people who use them every day. By bringing more daylight and fresh air into schools, architects and builders can help create brighter, healthier environments that support comfort, wellbeing, and learning.

Whether you are adding venting skylights to large-span common areas or incorporating tubular skylights to bring daylight into smaller flex spaces, VELUX Commercial can help maximize a building’s daylight potential and support better educational design.

Find out more about daylighting design in education with our Commercial Application eBook Series today, or contact our team to discuss the right daylighting solution for your next project.