Architectural lighting and its role
Lighting plays a vital role in the way people experience and understand space. Whether buildings and structures are lit naturally or artificially, lighting is the medium that allows us to see and appreciate are environment.
Lighting can bring an emotional value to architecture – it helps create an experience for those who occupy it. Whether it is daylighting or artificial lighting, light draws attention to textures, colours, and forms of a space, helping architecture achieve its purpose. Vision is arguably the most important sense through which we enjoy architecture, and lighting enhances the way we perceive it.
To create a successful balance between lighting and architecture, it is important to remember three key aspects:
Aesthetic is where designers and architects focus on the emotional impact the balance of lighting and architecture will have on occupants. Designers determine how they want people to feel when they walk around a space. This aspect is especially important for retail locations; exterior lighting should draw the consumer in, and the interior lighting should engage them as they walk through the doors in addition to showing off product.
Function, is also vital. We want the lighting to look a certain way, but we have to also make sure it serves its most important purpose – to help us see. Areas should be illuminated so occupants feel safe, comfortable and confident when navigating a room or building. They should be able to see the floor and walls around them, which should create a feeling of reassurance. They may also need to be able to perform specific functions, such as task lighting for reading, working and so on, emergency lighting to facilitate escape and so on.
The final aspect is very important in today’s age of green building and sustainability. It’s one thing to create an engaging and effective lighting layout, but it’s another to create a breathtaking layout that is also energy efficient. This can be done by assuring the majority of the light is reaching its target and there is less wasted light. For example, installing LEDs rather than fluorescent lighting, as there can be less wasted light due to the directional nature of LEDs.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
This weeks guest editor, Ankita Dwivedi of Firstplanit.
Practice, research and the business of evaluatiing materials.
Terminologies relating nature and buildings
Arts & Crafts to all the bios, environmental design to topophilia.
2023 HSE data on workplace injuries and ill health
And CIOB's response.
Building Safety Act and Secondary Legislation
Presidential update from CIAT's Eddie Weir PCIAT.
Starting pistol Statement for an election campaign?
Rates freeze, NI cuts, full expensing; early election?
Positive pressure or positive input ventilation
Could this be a remedy for condensation, damp or mould?
Unlocking a Healthier Tomorrow
Report on Social housing retrofit in Scotland 2023
Call for ministerial group and National Retrofit Delivery Plan.
The Great Transformation 1860–1920. Book review.
2023 Autumn Statement in brief with reactions
Including the devolved governments, CIOB, ECA, APM and IHBC.
Irish Life Sciences HQ, an exemplar of adaptive reuse
AT awards small to medium size project category winner.
Formal and informal adaptive re-use or new use of buildings.
Broken Record. Emissions Gap Report 2023
Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again).
Environment Agency cuts waste red tape
No longer enforcing certain waste transfer documentation.
APM Project Management Awards 2023
Winners reactions during the event at the Park Plaza Hotel.
BSRIA Living Laboratory Innovation Challenge
An exciting opportunity for stakeholders to collaborate.
Discussing issues related to inside and outside air quality
Report from the BSRIA Briefing 2023, Cleaner Air, Better Tomorrow.