FUNDAMENTALS

OF LIGHTING
AR 343
 Importance of light
Lighting plays a vital role in the quality of our daily lives. At work in offices, production or logistical facilities, good lighting brings employee satisfaction, performance,
comfort and safety. In shops, galleries and public places, it creates ambience and helps to accentuate the architectural environment. While in the home, it not only lights our tasks but
builds a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere that makes our homes a pleasure to live in.
But good lighting goes beyond mere efficiency and functionality. It must also make the interior spaces where we live, work or stay agreeable: cool or warm, businesslike or
convivial, happy or solemn, or any combination in between. Lately, more and more value is being attached to the emotional influence of lighting as an important atmosphere-
providing factor, affecting mood, wellbeing and health.
 What is light?
Light, the basis for all vision, is an element of our lives that we take for granted. We are so
familiar with brightness, darkness and the spectrum of visible colours that another form of perception
in a different frequency range and with different colour sensitivity is difficult for us to imagine. Visible
light is in fact just a small part of an essentially broader spectrum of electromagnetic waves, which
range from cosmic rays to radio waves.
It is not just by chance that the 380 to 780 nm range forms the basis for our vision, i.e. “visible
light”. It is this very range that we have at our disposal as solar radiation on earth in relatively uniform
amounts and can therefore serve as a reliable basis for our perception.
The human eye therefore utilises the part of the spectrum of electromagnetic waves available
to gather information about the world around us. It perceives the amount and distribution of the light
that is radiated or reflected from objects to gain information about their existence or their quality; it
also perceives the colour of this light to acquire additional information about these objects.
The human eye is adjusted to the only light source that has been available for millions of years
– the sun. The eye is therefore at its most sensitive in the area in which we experience maximum solar
radiation. Our perception of colour is therefore also attuned to the continuous spectrum of sunlight.
What is light?

By day we see in colour, while at night we

can only see in shades of grey.
 Concept of quantity of light

The basis for any lighting installation is the quantity of light available for a specific visual task
in a given situation. Every-one knows that light is a prerequisite for visual perception. Up to around a
hundred years ago we were dependent on the amount of light available through constantly changing
daylight conditions or weak artificial light sources, such as candles or oil lamps. Only with the
development of gas light and electric light did it become possible to produce sufficient amounts of light
and thus to actively control lighting conditions.
There then followed the evaluation of the amount of light that was appropriate in each situation,
establishing the upper and lower illuminance and luminance limits in specific situations. Much
investigation went into lighting conditions in the working environment to establish illuminance levels
for optimum visual performance. By visual performance we mean the ability to perceive and identify
objects or details, i.e. visual tasks with given contrast between the object viewed and the surrounding
area.
 Considerations of lighting quality
QUALITY of lighting is a term used to describe all the factors in a lighting installation not
directly concerned with quantity of illumination. Certainly it is obvious that if a given
room is alternatively lighted with a bare bulb and with a luminous ceiling, both giving the
same average quantitative illumination (in terms of human output) there is a vast difference
in the two lighting systems. This difference is in the quality of the lighting, a term
which describes the luminance ratios diffusion uniformity and chromaticity of the
lighting. Since uncomfortable brightness ratios, where background luminance exceeds
object luminance, are commonly referred to as glare, the quality of the lighting system is
also a description of the visual comfort and visual adequacy of the system.

When the discomfort glare is caused by light sources in the field of vision it is known as direct
glare. When the glare is caused by reflection of light source in a viewed surface it is known as reflected
glare or "veiling reflection.“

Three quality issues are addressed in this section.

• Glare
• Uniformity of illuminance
• Color rendition
 Considerations of lighting quality
GLARE

An essential feature of good lighting is the extent to which glare is limited. There are two
aspects to glare: the objective depreciation of visual performance, and the subjective disturbance felt
by individuals through excessive luminance levels or stark contrasts in luminance levels within the
field of vision.

Glare is the sensation produced by brightness levels within the visual field that are considerably
greater than the brightness to which the eyes are adapted. This can lead to reduced visual performance
and to discomfort. Too much glare can even lead to complaints such as veiling, eye strain and
headache. It’s therefore important to limit glare to avoid errors, fatigue and accidents. The degree of
glare restriction attained depends very much on the optical quality of the luminaires used in
combination with the type of lamp used. Thanks to their larger dimensions, fluorescent lamps have
lower luminances than high intensity gas discharge lamps and it is therefore easier to limit glare with
these lamps.
Considerations of lighting quality
GLARE
GLARE
 ConsiderationsOF
UNIFORMITY of ILLUMINANCE
lighting quality
UNIFORMITY OF ILLUMINANCE
An important criterion of lighting quality is the way in which the light is spatially distributed since it is this that
determines the pattern of illuminances that will be created. The illuminance recommendations applicable to indoor
lighting can be implemented in a number of ways. The light sources can be spread fairly evenly using a system of so-
called diffuse general lighting, it can be concentrated in certain areas using directional lighting, or it can be distributed
throughout the space but with local accents where needed using a combination of the two systems just mentioned.

The uniformity of illuminance is a quality issue that addresses how evenly light spreads over a task area.
Although a room's average illuminance may be appropriate, two factors may compromise uniformity.

• improper fixture placement based on the luminaire's spacing criteria (ratio of maxim recommended fixture
spacing distance to mounting height above task height)
• fixtures that are retrofit with reflectors that narrow the light distribution

Non-uniform illuminance causes several problems:

• inadequate light levels in some areas
• visual discomfort when tasks require frequent shifting of view from underlit to overlit areas
• bright spots and patches of light on floors and walls that cause distraction and generate a low quality
appearance
 Considerations of lighting quality
COLOR RENDITION

Apart from luminance, which is perceived as brightness, the eye also registers an
impression of colour based on the spectral composition of the perceived light. The light itself can also be seen as
being coloured (luminous colour). Colour is, however, also produced through the capacity of various materials to
absorb specific spectral ranges, thereby changing the spectral composition of the light which they reflect (object
colour).

The ability to see colors properly is another aspect of lighting quality. Light sources vary in their ability to
accurately reflect the true colors of people and objects. The color rendering index (CRI) scale is used to compare
the effect of a light source on the color appearance of its surroundings.

An object is seen as being coloured by virtue of the fact that it reflects only part of the waveband of the
light incident on it.The way in which the colours around us are rendered therefore depends strongly on the colour
composition of the lighting. Proper colour rendering is of importance when objects must be seen in their ‘true’
colour appearance. Generally speaking, the lighting employed in a interior must be so chosen that familiar objects
(e.g. foods, drinks, people) appear pleasant and natural.A proper choice of light source (colour rendering of at least
Ra 80), easily avoids this problem. Having said that, there are also situations where colour rendering is of little or
no importance. Road lighting is an example, the purpose here being to make the road and objects on it clearly
discernable to the motorist, and surface colours play practically no part in this.
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