Lights in Architecture
Lights in Architecture
Lights in Architecture
Light is a necessity for sight and, in architecture, a utility. But light is also a powerful vehicle of expression. Light moves, changes character, and comes and goes with its source, light has the power to give the inert mass of architecture a living quality of nature. Designers and architects channels light through openings to spaces and holds it on the surfaces of his masses by changes of plane, making it enliven the forms by contrast with shadow.
Lights in Architecture
Patterns of light and dark affect both our perceptions of the world and our emotional and physiological responses, and thus they are essential in gathering information about the physical world. Good-quality lighting can support visual performance and interpersonal communication and improve our feelings of well-being. Poor-quality lighting can be uncomfortable and confusing and can inhibit visual performance.
The overall purpose of lighting is to serve the needs of people. The role of the lighting designer is to match and rank the needs of the people using the space with the economic and environmental considerations and the architectural objectives, and then to translate the results into a workable design and functional installation
Large areas that on the whole are evenly illuminated can appear rather monotone if they are not divided up.
Types of Lighting
Types of Lighting
Types of Lighting
Types of Lighting
floor lit with downlight fixtures light walls Floor illumination emphasizes objects and pedestrian surfaces.
Indirect lighting of a ceiling creates diffuse light in the room with the lighting effect being influenced by the reflectance and color of its surface.
Indirect lighting of a ceiling creates diffuse light in the room with the lighting effect being influenced by the reflectance and color of its surface.
Defining Spatial Borders - Vertical Vertical spatial borders are emphasized by illuminating wall surfaces. Uniform light distribution emphasizes the wall as a whole. Bright walls create a high level of diffuse light in the room. Vertical illumination is used to shape the visual environment. Room surfaces can be differentiated using different levels of illuminance to indicate their importance. Uniform illumination of the surfaces emphasizes them as an architectural feature.
Defining Spatial Borders - Vertical Vertical spatial borders are emphasized by illuminating wall surfaces. Uniform light distribution emphasizes the wall as a whole. Bright walls create a high level of diffuse light in the room. Vertical illumination is used to shape the visual environment. Room surfaces can be differentiated using different levels of illuminance to indicate their importance. Uniform illumination of the surfaces emphasizes them as an architectural feature.
Defining Spatial Borders - Vertical Grazing light gives the wall structure by adding patterns of light. A decreasing level of brightness across a wall is not as effective as uniform wall washing at defining room surfaces. Lighting effects using grazing light emphasis the surface textures and become the dominant feature.
The illumination of architectural details draws attention away from the room as a whole towards individual components. Columns appear as silhouettes in front of an illuminated wall.
Rooms can be given a visual structure by illuminating the architectural features. Narrow-beam downlights emphasizing the form of the columns.
Grazing light accentuates individual elements or areas and brings out their form and surface texture. Grazing light can cause highly threedimensional features to cast strong shadows. By using different levels of illuminance, different parts of a room can be placed in a visual hierarchy.
Grazing light accentuates individual elements or areas and brings out their form and surface texture. Grazing light can cause highly threedimensional features to cast strong shadows. By using different levels of illuminance, different parts of a room can be placed in a visual hierarchy
Visual Clarity
For Ando, the Church of Light is an architecture of duality the dual nature of [co]existence solid/void, light/dark, stark/serene. The coexisting differences leave the church void of any, and all, ornament creating a pure, unadorned space. The intersection of light and solid raises the occupants awareness of the spiritual and secular within themselves. The cross on the east faade allows for light throughout the early morning and into the day, which has a dematerializing effect on the interior concrete walls transforming the dark volume into an illuminated box.
The zinc-coated aluminum strips forming a continuous plane curling itself all around the building mass, according to the architects. Inside, the three-storey structure is flooded with natural light via the expansive window, and glass partitions inside let the light freely flow from one area to the next. Rene van Zuuk.
Lighting without windows: The Pantheon in the 18th century, painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini.[14]
Visual Clarity
Emotional Impact
Emotional Impact
Lighting Fixtures
decorative lights ceiling/wall mount suspended fixtures track lighting
recessed lighting
portable uplights downlights cove lights
Light Source
Fluorescent-High efficiency fluorescent, compact fluorescent Incandescent High Intensity Discharge Lamps-Metal Halide
Fibre Optic
LED (light emitting diode) Strip Lights-Neon light
Lighting Control
Lighting control components are electronic and electromagnetic dimmers, ballasts and transformers. Lighting control systems, including those for stage and entertainment, architectural applications, energy management and building control. On/Off switching Dimmer Sensor