indoor lighting design

The light quality and its amount should match the needs and the daily tasks performed by people in the home. Concepts like light quality, energy-efficient lighting and task and accent lighting are crucial in modern lighting design.

Energy-efficient lighting

Modern indoor lighting designs are inextricably linked to energy-efficient lighting. And to achieve it, the design must consider…

- efficient fixtures (dedicated fluorescent and LED fixtures) and lights (fluorescent and LEDs);
- lighting controls;
- adequate combination of ambient lighting with task and accent lighting;
- daylighting strategies...

Efficient lighting can reduce average lighting costs by 2/3.

See: Energy Efficient Lighting

Light quality

Human visual performance depends both on light quality and quantity. Lots of light in your rooms, will not improve your vision or the accomplishment of your daily tasks.

The requirements are the amounts that match the needs of our daily functions, and to assess them pay attention to concepts like color rendition and color temperature.

See: Light Quality

Glare

Light quality – and lighting design – should pay attention to the glare issue.

Glare – the excessive brightness coming from a light source, making it difficult to see what one wishes to see – is undesired. And since it is primarily the result of the placement of lights relatively to the objects being viewed, pay attention to this, namely to combinations like bright objects in front of dark backgrounds, or bright lights wrongly located and focused on some surfaces or objects.

Indirect lighting and wall-washing lighting are two good techniques for getting glare-free lighting...

Task and accent lighting

indoor lighting designs demand matching the amount and quality of light to our daily functions.

To achieve that matching, task lighting is crucial. Installing task lights where needed – over tables, kitchen counters, etc. – provides better lighting and may reduce electric bills by reducing the needs of central lighting.

Accent lighting – to enhance and highlight architectural, artistic and decoration elements in the room– can also be an important design element.

Light wall colors

Light wall colors can be important on many lighting designs, namely those involving indirect lighting. Besides, due to their higher reflectivity, they can help minimize artificial lighting.

Lighting controls

Using lighting controls - photosensors, dimmers, switches... - can also be very important. They are a key element to get lower lighting costs.

See: Lighting controls

Maximizing the use of daylighting

Maximizing the use of daylighting – by using windows and skylights - is another crucial feature of an energy-efficient lighting design and a key element to be addressed when building new homes or remodeling.

The size and the location of the windows or the use and location of modern skylights (like tubular or sun tunnels skylights) are extremely important to reduce the artificial lighting needs.

See: Daylighting basics