Architectural Lighting

At Alcon Lighting, we understand what quality lighting and operational savings can do for your business. Our fixtures create appealing visual environments to help impress visitors and enable employees, all while lowering your energy and maintenance bills. From a bright parking structure to a comfortable reception area, we formulate every solution to meet your unique needs—whatever the application, whatever the budget.

The objective of architectural lighting is to obtain sufficient light for the purposes of the building, balancing factors of initial and operating cost, appearance, and energy efficiency. Lighting designers are often specialists who must understand the physics of light production and distribution, and the physiology and psychology of light perception by humans. Architectural lighting design is generally concerned with the permanent illumination of a structure.

Comprehensive lighting design requires consideration of the amount of functional light provided, the energy consumed, as well as the aesthetic impact supplied by the lighting system. Some buildings, like surgical centers and sports facilities, are primarily concerned with providing the appropriate amount of light for the associated task.

Some buildings, like warehouses and office buildings, are primarily concerned with saving money through the energy efficiency of the lighting system. Other buildings, like casinos and theatres, are primarily concerned with enhancing the appearance and emotional impact of architecture through lighting systems.

Architectural lighting design focuses on three fundamental aspects of the illumination of buildings or spaces. The first is the aesthetic appeal of a building, an aspect particularly important in the illumination of retail environments. Secondly, the ergonomic aspect: the measure of how much of a function the lighting plays. Thirdly is the energy efficiency issue to assure that light is not wasted by over-illumination, either by illuminating vacant spaces unnecessarily or by providing more light than needed for the aesthetics or the task.

In aesthetic appeal, the lighting designer attempts to raise the general attractiveness of the design, measure whether it should be subtly blended into the background or whether it should stand out, and assess what kind of emotions the lighting should evoke. The functional aspects of the project can encompass the need for the project to be visible (by night mostly, but also by day), the impact of daylight on the project and safety issues.