Lighting design

Designing a comfortable and people-friendly environment, especially if it is a space for professional use, involves the analysis and study of some really remarkable variables.

A central element among these is undoubtedly lighting design.

Light, in fact, is one of the elements that most have an influence on our daily activities, able to influence our daily actions, from our mood to our concentration and productivity at work.

Without going into too much technical detail, it’s interesting to try to understand how a light designer goes about creating an accurate and effective design.

Especially when, as is almost always the case, it is necessary to intervene with artificial lighting and resort to the lighting design of the various environments.

Any light source, such as the sun, emits an infinite amount of radiation.

The phenomenon of simultaneous straight-line propagation of an electric field is called electromagnetic radiation

Depending on the wavelength, the type of light perception by the eye/brain system changes.

Each light source, whether natural or artificial, emits radiation of different wavelengths that give rise to a specific spectral distribution and a color of different shades.

The magnitudes of photometry, fundamental to lighting design are:

• Light flow. It is the amount of light emitted by a certain source or lighting device in the unit of time. The unit of measurement is the lumen (lm).
• Light intensity. It is the amount of light emitted by a punctiform source in a given direction. The unit of measurement is the candle (cd).
• It is the amount of light flow that hits a surface and is inversely proportional to the distance between the light source and the surface itself.

It is measured in lux (lx).

• The only photometric quantity perceived by the eyes, is the luminous intensity emitted by the surface of an object referred to a surface and is given by the ratio between the luminous intensity emitted by the object in one direction and the area of a surface perpendicular to that direction. It is measured (in cd/m2).

Lighting design also identifies the most correct system in terms of light distribution, which can be: Direct, semi-direct, mixed, semi-indirect or indirect lighting. In the latter, more than 90% of the luminous flow is directed upwards and it is the one that is most used in interior design.

Lastly, another parameter to consider is the color temperature, which is expressed in kelvin degrees and varies from warm to cold white:

• Warm (2700-3000K) tending towards yellow/orange.
• Natural (4000K) merely white color gradients.
• Cold (5500-7000K) tending towards blue/purple, makes the white more brilliant.

In the quest for the maximum functionality of a workspace, as well as considering the type of partitions, wall finishings, ceilings, flooring materials and furnishings, a detailed study should also be dedicated to the management of light in each area, according to the needs that people have at different times of the day.