Artificial skylights

Artificial skylights and LED sky ceilings for windowless spaces

Give a room with no window the light and the view of an open sky, without touching the roof. Manufactured in France since 2017 for hospitals, care homes, offices and spas across Europe.

Artificial skylight panels lighting a windowless open-plan office with a backlit sky image
  • No roofwork Fits an existing 60 x 60 cm ceiling grid
  • Real daylight CRI above 97, reads as depth not print
  • Circadian 2,700 to 5,000 K across the day
  • Ready to hang Pre-wired, 5-year warranty

Trusted by

Specified by major public bodies, listed corporations and leading healthcare institutions.

  • RATP
  • Sanofi
  • AP-HP, Paris public hospitals
  • Siemens
  • Louis Vuitton
  • Safran
  • Institut Gustave Roussy
  • Renault
  • SNCF
  • La Poste
  • Hospices Civils de Lyon

The principle

What is an artificial skylight?

An artificial skylight is a lighting system that recreates the effect of an opening onto the sky. Fitted into a suspended ceiling, it gives new depth to rooms with no daylight. Nothing is cut into the roof and no waterproofing is involved, which is what separates it from a real roof window.

  1. A low-consumption LED panel Even backlighting across the whole surface, no hot spots and no flicker.
  2. A high-definition sky image Printed flat at 300 DPI minimum on a matt anti-reflective sheet.
  3. A raised aluminium frame The bevelled edge, 53 to 100 mm deep, turns a lit panel into an opening.
Room lit by backlit sky ceiling panels after installation, showing the bevelled aluminium frame
Deep immersion frame of a large-format artificial skylight seen from below

The ranges

LED sky ceiling panels for every kind of ceiling

Four ranges, from a single 60 x 60 cm tile dropped into a suspended ceiling to a 120 x 180 cm light well.

  • Circadian sky ceilings 60 x 60 cm, 2,700 to 5,000 K, 5,000 lm. Shifts through the day and lights the room on its own.
  • Recessed sky ceiling panels 60 x 60 or 60 x 120 cm, 6,000 K. The entry point, alongside the lighting already in place.
  • Large-format artificial skylights Up to 120 x 180 cm, recessed or surface. Deep bevelled frame, reads as a light well.
  • Suspended sky ceilings 120 x 120 cm or 120 cm round, up to 19,000 lm. For rooms with no ceiling grid.

Custom sizes and custom images are made to order. Browse the image catalogue.

Where it works

Where can you put an artificial skylight?

Anywhere a real window is impossible. Pick a room and see what it looks like once the ceiling opens up.

Recessed artificial skylight above desks in a windowless occupational health office

Windowless offices and basement floors

Interior offices are the most common case. Staff sit there eight hours a day with no daylight and no view, and the complaint is always the same: the room feels like a box. A panel over each work area gives back both the light and the sense of an opening.

Best fit
XL recessed, or Evolution when the room has no other lighting
Installed at
Occupational health offices, France

Send us your ceiling, we send back a layout

Dimensions and a photo are enough for a firm quote.

Why Cumulux

What you get with a Cumulux sky ceiling

We have been building sky ceilings in France since 2017, for hospitals, laboratories, transport operators and offices. Every panel is assembled and wired before it leaves us, so what arrives on site is a finished light fitting, not a kit.

  • Five-year warranty On every range. LED panels rated 50,000 to 100,000 hours, which is more than twenty years at eight hours a day.
  • Our own photographic catalogue Skies and foliage shot by the Cumulux photographer, never stock images. Printed at 300 DPI minimum, and yours can be printed instead if you have one.
  • No roofwork, no permit Panels arrive pre-wired with their fixings. They drop into a standard ceiling grid or hang from a concrete slab.
  • Low running cost From 13 W for a 60 x 60 cm panel, dimmable over DALI or Bluetooth so output follows the hours the room is actually used.

Questions

Artificial skylights, answered

Five things buyers ask us before ordering. Anything else, call the Paris showroom on +33 1 71 18 24 99.

Can a sky ceiling be fitted without roofwork?

Yes. Nothing is cut into the roof and no building permit is involved, because the daylight is produced by the LED panel itself. Panels drop into a standard 60 x 60 cm suspended ceiling grid, or hang from a concrete slab on the fixings supplied. An electrician connects them to the existing lighting circuit.

How much light does one panel give?

A 60 x 60 cm circadian panel puts out 5,000 lumens, which covers roughly 7 m² at the 300 to 500 lux that EN 12464-1 asks for on a desk. The classic ranges are built for atmosphere rather than task lighting, at 1,430 lumens for the same size, so they sit alongside your existing fittings. Large suspended formats reach 19,000 lumens and light a room on their own.

Does the light change through the day?

On the circadian ranges, yes. Colour temperature runs from 2,700 K early and late to 5,000 K in the middle of the day, following a clock programmed for each day of the year, and the melanopic ratio moves from 0.29 to 1.07 with it. Night shift patterns can be programmed instead. The classic ranges hold a fixed 6,000 K.

Can we print our own photograph?

Yes, at 300 DPI minimum for the panel size. Otherwise you choose from our catalogue of skies and foliage, all shot by the Cumulux photographer, so the same image never turns up in a competitor's building. Printing is flat onto a matt anti-reflective panel, which is what keeps the illusion working under direct light.

Do you supply outside France?

Panels ship across Europe, pre-wired and ready to hang, and any competent electrician can install them from the drawings supplied. Installation by our own teams is quoted case by case. Send us the ceiling dimensions and a photo and we will come back with a layout and a firm price.