What does daylighting mean?
Daylighting refers primarily to the deliberate design strategy of using natural sunlight to illuminate the interiors of buildings, reducing dependence on artificial electric lighting. Architects achieve it through windows, skylights, light shelves, clerestories, and reflective surfaces, and it is prized in sustainable design for lowering energy consumption and improving occupant comfort and wellbeing. A second, related sense belongs to urban planning: the daylighting of a stream means uncovering a waterway that had been buried in a culvert beneath streets or buildings, restoring it to open flow as part of ecological revitalization projects. The term can also describe excavating buried pipes or cables to expose them at ground level. Though technical in register, appearing mostly in professional and environmental writing rather than casual speech, daylighting has grown more visible alongside green-building certification and urban restoration movements, making it a useful word for discussions of architecture, sustainability, and city design.
The practice or technique of illuminating building interiors with natural light instead of, or in addition to, artificial lighting.
"The library's deep overhangs are central to its passive daylighting strategy."
Common in architectural and sustainability contexts; often paired with terms like passive, natural, or design.
The act of restoring a previously buried stream, river, or utility to the surface by removing the structure covering it.
"Daylighting of the buried brook became the centerpiece of the neighborhood's redevelopment plan."
Frequently encountered in urban planning and environmental journalism.
Rarely pluralized; the word is normally treated as uncountable, though occasional plurals appear when referring to multiple distinct projects or schemes.
"The firm has completed several daylightings across the city's older districts."
Cities like Seoul and Yonkers have literally 'daylighted' rivers that had been buried under concrete for decades — unearthing whole waterways and transforming them back into public landscapes.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of daylighting
The word derives from the compound "daylight," formed from the Old English nouns "dæg" (day) and "lēoht" (light), with the gerundial suffix -ing indicating an activity or process. It arose in modern English as builders and architects sought a term for designing around natural illumination. Its figurative extension to uncovering buried streams reflects the image of bringing something hidden back into the light, and it shares its Germanic roots with cognate light-words such as twilight and moonlight.
Related word forms
How daylighting is actually used
Predominantly a technical term used in architecture, green building, and urban planning rather than everyday conversation. The 'buried stream' sense is especially common in environmental and municipal contexts.