The initial analysis uncovered that the photographic sky compositions had the same neural activation characteristics as other positive images, but they also activated other parts of the brain including the cerebellum. Those areas of the brain are often associated with experiencing extended space.

The second part of the study collected the health data throughout 2013 from patients who stayed in 10 hospital rooms at Covenant Medical Center in Texas. It compared the length of treatment and the recovery rates for patients who were in rooms that had the photographic sky compositions and those who were not.


The second part has been completed but since the study has not been accepted for publication in a research journal yet, the lead researcher requested that the company not disseminate the findings until then, according to Navarrete Maciel.

Sky Factory's main competitor is TESS. TESS was founded in 1995, with one office in the U.S. and another in Germany. The company has skylight and window backlit images but what separates them from Sky Factory is something they call the "Patient Experience."

It includes LED skylights and virtual windows but also wall murals and their Illuminations program. The program also incorporates a cartoon animation projecting onto the front of an MRI or CT scanner. Hospitals can choose a certain theme, including a beach or underwater scene, and the MRI or CT is wrapped in that particular theme or "skin".

The program has additional offerings including LED lighting to wash a room in any color, 3-D sculptures, and more. Machado said that TESS has the program installed in every state in the U.S.

But when it comes to the virtual skylights and windows, Navarrete Maciel said that what separates Sky Factory from other companies is that their products are not just backlit photography, they design what they call "illusions in nature."

They customize the images by composing them based on the scale of the room and the perspective of the patient. They use mega format digital photography, 6500 Kelvin high-color rendering index to create daylight-quality artificial light and patented elevators to recess the image from the ceiling grid to create depth. "To create this it takes a level of detail -- that is important to succeed in affecting spatial cognition," said Navarrete Maciel.

In 2011, they won the Product Innovation Award from Architectural Products Magazine and this year their Luminous SkyCeiling was the Jury Winner in the Product + Health Care category in Architizer's A+ Awards.

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