For decades, buildings have been quietly taking sunlight away from us. As cities grew denser, floor plans deeper, and lifestyles more interior-bound, natural light became a premium feature rather than a given. SUNROOOF, the New Delhi brand founded by Ishat Jain, was built around the conviction that this was never something we should have made peace with.
The Engineering of Perfect Daylight
SUNROOOF makes ceiling, wall, and window installations that replicate natural sunlight indoors using patented optics and AI technology, and it is building an entirely new conversation around what light in architecture should actually do
The brand’s answer is specific and physical. SUNROOOF makes ceiling, wall, and window installations that replicate natural sunlight indoors, panels the brand calls virtual skylights, engineered to sit within the architecture of a space rather than be added to it. Using patented optics, specialised lenses, and AI technology, each installation recreates the living quality of sunlight, with the depth, the shift, the warmth, and the particular sensation of a sky above rather than a surface. The range spans four formats, namely Classical, Minimalist, Modern, and Wall and Window, and the installations are specified across homes, offices, retail, cafes, spas, hotels, and hospitals.
Why Light Is a Health Argument
Sunlight is not simply an aesthetic preference. Research consistently links natural light exposure to improvements in mood, focus, sleep quality, and circadian rhythm regulation. The absence of it carries measurable consequences for wellbeing, and absence is the daily reality for most people in dense urban environments, who spend roughly ninety per cent of their time indoors. SUNROOOF’s technology was developed specifically to address this gap, producing light that the body reads and responds to the way it would to actual sunlight. This is why the brand describes itself not as a lighting company but as a human-health company that happens to make light. For architects and designers whose clients are increasingly asking wellness questions at the brief stage, that distinction matters in practice.
The Technology Behind It
Founded in 2020, SUNROOOF spent years in research and development before a single commercial installation. The brand holds one granted patent, with four more under review and twenty being drafted for filing, covering the technology, the optics, and the visual design of the system. In 2024, the work was recognised with the iF Design Award from Germany and the Good Design Award.
The Record
SUNROOOF has been installed in thousands of homes, offices, hotels, hospitals, retail spaces, cafes, and spas across the country, just as it grew from two founders to a strong team of eighty five in no time. Its installations sit in the private residences of Shah Rukh Khan, Mukesh Ambani, Deepinder Goyal, Peyush Bansal, and Shilpa Shetty, and its commercial partnerships include Good Earth, JW Marriott, Kohler, Libas, and ITC Hotels. Experience centres run across South Delhi, North Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Mohali, and Surat, with Hyderabad opening in June 2026 and Dubai following in August.
SUNROOOF is an Associate Sponsor of Design Democracy 2026. Explore their work at sunrooof.com
This is a sponsored article.
Image Courtesy: SUNROOOF
