Have you ever been in a room where the lighting felt like a warm hug rather than a cold glare? As designers and students of the built environment, we find ourselves obsessing over the physical boundaries of the space. We talk about the walls, the texture, the furniture. But the single most powerful aspect of an interior is completely non-physical. Lighting is the determinative factor in how we experience space and how we feel inside the space. But in the current era of environmental stewardship, the question is no longer how we can effectively light our space, but how we can light our space without killing our planet.
The Philosophy of Natural Integration
The best light is that which we do not need to plug in. In the narrative of architecture, windows are more than just a hole in the wall. They represent the rhythmic lungs of a building. To address daylighting through building orientation and reflectance, we could incorporate a system to reduce the need for artificial light during the peak times of the day. This is a way to address, or rather, incorporate the natural rhythms of a building’s inhabitants, signalling a connection to the cyclical process of the sun.
Smart Solutions for Modern Spaces
As the sun sets, our second-level approach to designing comes into play. We can achieve sustainable lighting through a balance of both efficacy and ambience. This is what we can do differently when considering lighting design:
- Low Energy Modules: Upgrading to the higher efficiency range where a larger portion of the consumed energy is channelled into light and less into heat will help towards achieving a lower carbon footprint.
- Smart Control Systems: With the installation of occupancy-detecting or dimming based on available daylight sensors, one is assured of not wasting energy on an empty room.
- Materiality of Fixtures: Selecting light shades and fixtures that use recycled metals or bioplastics or quick-growing natural fibres adds a tactile component of sustainability to the aesthetic.
- Layered Lighting Designs: Rather than lighting up a room by means of a single overhead fixture, place task and accent lighting to illuminate only where the light is needed.
The Role of the Designer
As an individual student or as an industry professional, the key is to find the best marriage between data and poetry. As designers, we have to understand the technical specifications of brightness and how it should be distributed, but we should never forget how the end result affects us and our emotional surroundings. An enduring interior is not an dark and cold place to be. Rather, an enduring interior is an artfully assembled space where every glimmer of light counts for something.
A New Perspective
In contemplating what the future of the industry might hold, it is important that we ask ourselves one critical question. Can we create spaces that emphasize both the beauty of shadow and the beauty of light? By not illuminating everything around us, we conserve energy and regain an appreciation for architectural nuance.