Light Impact

Good lighting makes all the difference 

The quality of the light around us has a profound effect on our emotional well-being that should not be underestimated. In practical terms, light defines space, enhance colour and reveals the intricacies of texture form; in short it makes our surrounding visible. Creating a successful lighting scheme requiring an understanding of the effect of different light sources, a working familiarity with the enormous range of light fittings and what they do and, last but not least the practical common sense to choose the right fitting in any given context. This is what one might describe as a technical side to lighting design, and although it may appear superficially intimidating and complex, in reality is not particularly difficult to master. Decorating with light is less about selecting an attractive table lamp than learning to recognize the subtle ways in which lighting can make us not only comfortable and at ease in our surroundings but can also actively promote enjoyment and pleasure. Light is what we see by, but is also affects how we fell- it is an emotional as well as a practical role to play. The quality of light, whether it be natural or artificial, has a critical impact on mood and atmosphere. It can lift our spirits or depress us, excite us or soothe us, intimidate and alarm us or make us feel safe and secure.

The feel good factory

As humans, we are exceptionally light-sensitive creatures. Slight in our dominant sense and through it we can appreciate minute variations in hue, tone, form and movement. Compared to many others animals, which rely more acutely on hearing and smell, we enjoy a rich visual world full of subtley and nuance. Natural light is the benchmark for all the artificial alternatives. What we enjoy most about daylight is its variety. In different latitudes, in different times of the day, in different seasons. Light is constantly changing. If natural light can give us an instinctive appreciation of variety, it can also demonstrate how tedious and uncomfortable uniformity can be. Beneath a dull, grey overcast sky in the northern latitude, shadows are softer form is indistinct and colour is more muted: life can seem less exciting, and the overall effect can be oppressive.

Our experience of light is not confined to the natural world. While electrical light is little more than a century old, human being have lived with artificial light since the days when fires lit at the mouth of the cave kept darkness and marauding animals at bay. The homely flicker of firelight on a cold winter’s night, the warm intimacy of candlelit dinning table, the breathing magic of fireworks exploding in a dark sky etc. It is equal simple to think of ways in which artificial light can be negatively employed. The blind terror of the interrogation cell is a symbolized by the single bare lightbulb glaring from the ceiling. The clinical light of a hospital corridor is spelled out by cold strip lighting.

Lighting scheme 

Recognizing the positive and negative associations of both artificial and natural light is an important step towards creating a good lighting scheme in the spaces. When an interior seems to be uncomfortable, inhospitable or lacking in atmosphere, and for no readily identifiable reason, all too often the lighting is a fault, replacing precisely those conditions we find most unsympathetic in the natural world. The artificial light is seen often principally as a means to provide adequate illumination when natural light levels are low. The aim of good lighting is not merely to enable us to see what we are doing once the sun goes down. It is to provide a richness of visual experience: both the subtlety and variety we enjoy in a natural light and the sparkling and magic of the light-filled celebrations. For creating a lighting scheme, natural light is the starting point.