Colour appearance
According to BRE’s The essential guide to retail lighting:
Colour appearance refers to the ‘…visual sensation correlated with the ‘warmth’ or ‘coolness’ of the light emitted by a lamp. The metric used to characterise the colour appearance of the light emitted by a light source is the correlated colour temperature (CCT), expressed in Kelvin (K). Warm white light is produced by lamps having a colour temperature below 3,000 K (reddish hues), whereas 4,000 K and above (bluish) is cool and cold white light. The colour appearance is quite separate from the colour rendering of the lamp.’
Colour rendering is ‘The ability of a light source to show surface colours as they should be, usually in comparison with a tungsten or daylight source. Measured on the colour rendering index (CRI) scale. A value of 0 means it is impossible to discern colours at all, and a score of 100 means no colour distortion. For most indoor lighting applications a value of at least 80 is recommended.’
Colour gamut is ‘A measure of how colourful a scene will appear under a given light source. Sources with a high colour gamut generally make objects appear brighter and more colourful.’
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Ballast or control gear.
- Daylight benefits in healthcare buildings.
- Daylight factor.
- Daylight lighting systems.
- Dichroic reflector.
- Discharge lamp.
- Extra-low voltage lamps.
- General lighting v task lighting.
- Illuminance.
- Lamps.
- Lamp efficacy.
- Light pollution.
- Lighting.
- Lighting energy numeric indicator LENI.
- Lighting of construction sites.
- Luminaire efficacy.
- Rights to light.
Featured articles and news
Read about Belgrade's Brutalist landmark - the Western City Gate.
Clean indoor air for healthy living
Read about the measures that can be taken by individuals to protect and minimise exposure to outdoor sourced air pollution.
Government announces leaseholds on new-build houses will be banned.
Transport Secretary announces public consultation into London's funding of Crossrail 2.
Architecture of concert stages
Have a look at some of the most impressive concert stage designs of all time, including Pink Floyd, U2, Rolling Stones, and more...
What is the Home Quality Mark? Find out how it can help you when buying/renting a new home.
Business Secretary launches £246m Faraday Challenge to establish UK as world leader in battery technology.
Government announces new plans for regulations to improve safety and security awareness of drone users.
Read our introductory article to the various different types of fuel.
IHBC book review: Charles Barry’s monumental struggle to rebuild the Houses of Parliament.
Read about RSHP's British Museum extension which has been shortlisted for the 2017 Stirling Prize.
More updates from DCMS about the large-scale testing of cladding systems and the number of buildings affected.
Grenfell Tower articles updated daily
