More daylight, more room to stand and a sweeping view of the countryside: The Brun family in Stans are reaping the benefits of choosing the VELUX Panorama daylight solution.
The Brun family from Stans live in a traditional Central Swiss shingle house. Homeowners Kurt and Cornelia Brun had known for a long time that they would soon need to redo the insulation in their steep roof and had prepared to make this investment. It was their adult daughter Vanessa who came up with the exciting idea of combining the necessary with the beneficial: Would it be possible to transform the dark attic into a fully fledged and attractive living storey? The most important step on this journey would be to bring a lot more daylight into the attic rooms. The Bruns also wanted a solution that would allow them to make better use of the living space lost to the roof pitch.
They brought in local building shell expert Stefan Flury to advise. During the consultation, it quickly became clear that the VELUX Panorama dormer solution can optimally satisfy both requirements. The daylight solution consists of two rows of roof windows positioned right next to each other at an angle. Installed on the roof pitch, they create a generous window area similar to a “dormer” window, which means that there is more space inside at head height. Since the new Panorama solution virtually only consists of windows, it lets a great deal of daylight into the rooms at all times of day – overall around twice as much as individual roof windows. And the view is equally generous: The VELUX Panorama solution gives a view of the sky and the natural landscape.
The Bruns didn’t have to think about it for very long, and said to themselves: If we’re going to do up the attic, then let’s maximise our living comfort at the same time. They decided to install two VELUX Panorama windows directly opposite each other – maximising the space gained. Their goal: To create a modern and light-infused living oasis under their roof, with more space and more light.
“I felt very nervous when I visited the building site and saw the massive hole in the roof from the outside”, recalls Kurt Brun, “but when I entered the room and saw how bright it was, I instantly knew we had made the right choice. It was fascinating to see an old house transform into something very modern.” Expert Stefan Flury felt the same way: “The building site was special for us. As installers, we felt that we were creating a particularly beautiful living space and that obviously motivated us in our work.”
The result is impressive: The attic rooms are now flooded with light and have a modern design. The optimal positioning of the windows gives daughter Vanessa, who rents the attic rooms, a clear view of the countryside around Stans and the nearby mountains. That’s not the only reason why she feels so happy in the new space: “There’s so much natural light that I hardly ever need to put on the light during the day. It’s really nice and it saves energy”, she says.
Even the more intense sunlight in the summer months is no sweat for Vanessa: Sun and heat protection products are already integrated into the electric VELUX INTEGRA® roof windows and are easily controlled at the touch of a button or with your smartphone. Plus, the intelligent VELUX ACTIVE indoor climate control uses sensors to continually measure temperature, air humidity and CO2, shuts the roof windows in time if it rains or uses the heat protection awning blinds if required. “VELUX ACTIVE is very easy to use” says Vanessa Brun, “and I appreciate being able to adjust the indoor climate at any time from my smartphone.”
When the Bruns were sitting at their kitchen table, sketching out the first ideas, a year before the conversion, they could never have imagined what their top floor could become. Larger rooms, lots of daylight and an extensive panoramic view – Kurt Brun is completely satisfied with the VELUX Panorama solution: “If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s perfect.”
