This presentation shows the results of research and preliminary design of a core sunlighting system for underground transit stations, conducted under a WSP USA Research and Innovation Fellowship.

From its earliest days, underground transportation has been associated with darkness, unhealthy conditions, and disconnection from life on the surface. Designs for new stations in recent decades have attempted to bring natural light down to the platforms but have succeeded mainly where the structure is only one story deep. As systems burrow deeper to expand, bringing in daylight becomes even more difficult.

Research for buildings above ground has shown it is possible to collect, transport and distribute direct sun to the interior (core) of a structure, even to underground spaces. Our research program attempted to build on this knowledge by investigating possible new techniques for directing daylight to transit station platforms and other facilities, far underground, to further sustainable design approaches.

Jeffrey T. Berg AIA, LC, LEED AP BD+C

Jeff Berg is a Senior Lead Consultant in the Transportation Lighting Group of WSP USA. He brings over 40 years of lighting design experience to complement institutional, commercial, and residential interiors as well as building facades, landscapes, and transportation facilities. Before joining WSP he practiced independently as Berg Lighting Design and Berg/Howland Associates, after starting his lighting career with William Lam Associates.

His lighting design work has received awards from the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, the Designers' Lighting Forum, Boston, the International Association of Lighting Designers, and the US Department of Energy.

Elliot Glassman AIA, NCARB, LEED BD+C, CPHD

Elliot Glassman is a Senior Associate and Senior Technical Principal with Built Ecology, WSP's high performance and sustainability group. He is also the National Leader of Computational Design for Building Systems and the lead of WSP's global computational design group WSPnext. In 15 years of combined professional practice as an architect and sustainability consultant, Elliot has worked on various projects around the world, each requiring a unique response to a diverse set of climatic, site, and programmatic conditions. His main area of expertise is passive building design for energy, daylight, comfort, water efficiency and renewable energy