Transforming homes with VELUX Daylight Visualizer

VELUX Leading With Daylight campaign highlights the importance of integrating daylight considerations early in the design process.

Nestled in Austria’s Wachau Valley, the House by the Garden of Venus continues a long-standing family tradition while introducing new ways of working with daylight. Originally built in the 14th century, the home was recently renewed through a design that connects generations and elevates everyday life through natural light.

Architects Volker Dienst and Christoph Feldbacher led the transformation. Their goal was to maintain the house’s cultural value while rethinking how spaces perform and feel through daylight. With its orchard surroundings and view of the Danube, the site encouraged openness, material simplicity, and strong visual connections. To inform design decisions, the team used VELUX Daylight Visualizer — a free simulation tool built for early-phase daylight performance modelling.

Daylight Visualizer generates climate-based analysis, false-color luminance and illuminance visualisations, as well as daylight availability reports. It also integrates with leading CAD and BIM software, allowing architects to simulate how light behaves throughout the day and year.

The home is structured across three levels: the original stone base, a prefabricated timber upper floor, and a loft under the pitched roof. Roof windows, along with a glazed north-facing gable, create a layered daylight experience. In the morning, light enters softly from the north. Later, sunlight moves dynamically through the roof windows, changing atmosphere as time passes.

The VELUX Daylight Visualizer allowed the design team to explore how light would interact with each level. Placement of apertures and adjustment of ceiling geometry were refined to reduce glare and improve uniformity. A mezzanine offers additional sleeping or study space, while a central shaft brings light from above down to the kitchen below — supporting comfort and continuity.

Material selection complemented the lighting strategy. Stone and concrete at the base add thermal mass. Spruce interiors enhance reflectivity and soften acoustics. Slatted silver-fir facades on the south control privacy and glare. High-performance timber-aluminium windows and insulation help maintain stable temperatures and reduce energy demand.

VELUX Daylight Visualizer can be used from the outset to support key decisions. Its outputs allowed the team to compare alternatives, communicate strategies, and align design intent with performance goals. Because the tool is free and compatible with industry workflows, it fits naturally into small and large projects alike. Light quality, in this home, is the result of measured choices. By modeling daylight early, the team created a building that adapts naturally to time, season, and use.

Credits

Design: Volker Dienst & Christoph Feldbacher

Location: Willendorf in der Wachau, Austria

Client: Private

Photos: VELUX

Tool: VELUX Daylight Visualizer