Talieh Ghane researches the interaction between light and health at the California Lighting Technology Center. We talked about the biological vs. visual system of light, how to synchronize your circadian clock for better health, how light is like a drug, and why you shouldn’t be on your phone right before bed (guilty).
The term Architectural Lighting encompasses three main factors. The first is the building’s aesthetic, which is crucial for any commercial, especially retail, environment. The second consideration is ergonomic or functional — any aspect which improves one’s ability to live, work, function, relax or play — to make the space easier to use. The third aspect involves the efficiency of energy, ensuring that light is properly, which is to say economically or optimally, used and distributed.
A color rendering index (CRI) is a quantitative metric of the ability of an artificial light source (i.e. LED, Fluorescent, Halogen, Incandescent, etc.) to accurately reveal the colors of a subject in comparison to a natural light source. A CRI of 90 means that the artificial light source is replicating roughly 90% of the visible color spectrum that the sun would produce on the same color.
In 2016, Architectural Lighting interviewed lighting designer and founder of Pfarré Lighting Design, Gerd Pfarré, shedding light on the legendary designer’s process, what’s most important when lighting a space and what the future holds for lighting. While Pfarré’s is a career is a storied one, he did not start out in the industry.
As architectural designs have digressed from symmetrical and parallel mirroring patterns that align with vaulted ceilings, grid axis, and more, linear lighting allows architects to highlight asymmetrical architectural features and lines (which is where the term “architectural lighting” comes from). The lighting design pattern of 2019 is no design pattern.
When designing for a retail space, it is important to consider not only the design aesthetic that needs to be achieved but also the patron and the intended experience.
Lighting design for retail spaces vary from displaying delicate pieces of jewelry to endless shelves of apparel; and when it comes to coffee shops, the detail and effort into lighting design is no different. Min Cho and Jill Enomoto, directors of store design for Starbucks, share their tips on how to use light to welcome and guide customer experience.
It’s widely known that lighting can affect one’s mood — hence the common term mood lighting. But the degree at which your mood is affected by lighting might surprise you. In 2014, the Journal of Consumer Psychology published a study that found the more intense the lighting, the more affected and the more intense the participants’ emotions were — both positive and negative.
After outgrowing its headquarters several years ago, Amazon invested in its hometown — building some 40 buildings in downtown Seattle while keeping a focus sustainability. Six of the buildings on Amazon’s Seattle campus have been awarded with the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification for sustainable design and construction methods, while 20 of the buildings were built using LEED standards.
Products can demand attention with the help of proper lighting. This means an open floor plan with tactical attention to lighting fixture placement, brightness, color temperature, and CRI. The ability of LED Lighting to meet these technical requirements is what makes it the #1 choice of lighting designers and architects.
JKMM Architects is a prominent Finnish architectural firm established in 1998, growing over the years to actively operate in various areas and scales of architectural design from buildings, interiors, furniture, and urban environments. The studio’s design approach reflects an emphasis on simplicity, craftsmanship, and innovation through experimentation with the goal of creating exceptional architectural and technical work.
Even some of the world’s most stunning architectural masterpieces need a little help getting gussied up for the camera. It’s not that the light in the room itself is bad, in fact, the designer most likely executed everything in the room around light. But, when it comes to the lighting within interiors, it can get tricky when the camera comes into play.
I caught up with event lighting designer Raymond Thompson of Images by Lighting the week before the Oscars and right smack dab in the middle of awards season. Thompson, whose credits read like a highlight reel of Hollywood’s most star-studded events, was at Raleigh Studios prepping for the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s annual Night Before the Oscars gala.
