Here's a related article about the virtues of older structures that, because they predated air conditioning, central heating, and, in some cases, electric lighting, had to be designed for energy efficiency. An excerpt:

"Consider one curious example: prismatic glass blocks, which can still be spotted above the doorway of the occasional early-20th-century storefront. These glass blocks, invented in the late 19th century, were cast with prisms along one side to redirect sunlight deep into long and dark rooms, magnifying available light between five and 50 times."

Good stuff.

www.terrapass.com/blog