An 8-step Plan for Lighting Design
To develop a basic lighting design plan, the following steps
are recommended.
Decide whether the room will be "designed", or whether
ordinary or utility lighting is adequate.
Decide upon the style and décor of the room.
Choose your decorative lighting and decide where it goes.
- Locate your tasks and illuminate them.
- Locate the displays and illuminate them.
- Determine if additional ambient lighting is needed. and balance.
- Add switching and dimming as needed to control the lighting.
Step 1: Decide whether the room will be "designed",
or whether ordinary or utility lighting is adequate.
For many spaces, such as garages and closets, a simple lighting
solution is the most appropriate one. In storage rooms, basements,
and other places, basic lighting may be all that is needed. These
are excellent opportunities for energy efficient lighting fixtures,
especially if lights are left on for extended periods of time
during the day. Choose a light that is right for the room and
the style.
If the room is a living space, dining room, kitchen or other
finished space that is likely to have lighting design elements,
then move on to steps 2-6.
Step 2: Decide upon the style and decorative motif of
the room.
A lighting design begins with architecture, style and décor.
Some things just look right, feel right, and fit well with the
overall design of the room. Decorative lighting such as chandeliers,
sconces, and table lamps are part of our culture, and they provide
at least some portion of the light needed for certain tasks.
Step 3: Choose your decorative lighting fixtures and decide
where they go.
As a general rule, designers should choose the decorative lighting
that fits the space. Traditional locations include a chandelier
over the dining room table, a pendant light over the breakfast
table, a lamp on a side table in the living room or a lantern
by the front door. Keep in mind that other lighting may also be
needed (to illuminate tasks or displays), but due to the important
role that decorative lighting plays, it comes first.
Step 4: Locate your tasks and illuminate them.
If the decorative lighting does not sufficiently illuminate a
task, provide "task lighting". Two of the most common
task lights are recessed downlights and undercabinet lights.
Recessed downlights are located over task locations, especially
in the kitchen, bath, shower, or at a desk. One recessed light
may be all that is needed in a shower stall or tub, but in a kitchen
a group of downlights often provides more flexible task lighting.
It is best to locate downlights directly over a task, but in the
kitchen keep in mind that the downlight will need to illuminate
into the base cabinets as well, making fixture locations over
the center of the room equally important.
Undercabinet lights are used whenever there is an overhead cabinet
above a counter, such as in a kitchen, laundry room or home office.
Fluorescent undercabinet lights produce significantly more light
than incandescent strips and use much less energy.
A specific type of task light fixture is used in the bathroom,
called a "vanity light". The purpose of this fixture
is to illuminate the face - allowing grooming, shaving and makeup.
There are a growing number of appealing fluorescent options available
to designers, and many choices of styles using ordinary incandescent
lamps. As a rule of thumb, provide 60 watts of fluorescent light
or 150 watts of incandescent light for every 5' of sink or vanity
width.
Step 5: Locate the displays and illuminate them.
Some homes don't have displays, others have many. Determine whether
you want to highlight objects of art, memorabilia, bookcases,
or other things that you may wish to have stand out. For many
families, the fireplace mantel and the wall above the mantel are
primary locations for display items.
A popular accent lighting system is recessed lighting and track
lighting. Modern CFL technology can now be effectively employed
with this system. Paintings can be illuminated with a warm tone
CFL, using at least 23 watts.
As a rule of thumb, mount the light 21" from the wall with
an 8' ceiling, 27" from the wall with a 9' ceiling, 34"
from the wall with a 10' ceiling, and so on. One accent light
will illuminate anything from a small object (with a 10-15 degree
"spot" lamp) to a painting up to 3' wide (with a 35-35
degree "flood" lamp). Add a second light for every 30-36"
of width of the object your lighting.
Step 6: Determine if additional ambient lighting is needed.
This step can often be the most difficult part of all. Even if
your design produces the right amount of light for each task and
display and you have sconces or chandeliers, there is sometimes
the chance that more "ambient" light is needed. Ambient
light is intentionally not very obvious, and as such it can be
difficult to determine when more is necessary. Often the best
way to provide ambient light is with hidden lights.
Ambient light is a primary concern in the kitchen, where table
lamps and floor lamps aren't welcome because they get in the way.
Some common ways to introduce ambient light in the kitchen are:
Fluorescent uplights atop cabinets
Central fluorescent lights on the ceiling
Wall sconces, especially those with uplight
Decorative lights with an open top that place most of the light
on the ceiling
In other rooms, such as bedrooms or living rooms, ambient light
can be introduced by portable lighting fixtures such as torchieres,
floor lamps or table lamps. As an alternative to halogen torchieres
there are now compact fluorescent torchieres. These fluorescent
torchieres generate good quality dimmable light without the energy
consumption and safety hazard of ordinary halogen torchieres.
Step 7: Prepare and make lighting calculations as a check
and balance.
As a check in balance you can quickly assess whether you have
the right amount of light using the following formulas:
Room |
Using Incandescent or Halogen Lighting |
Using Compact Fluorescent or Fluorescent Lighting |
Notes |
Kitchen |
3 to 4 watts per square foot of floor plan |
1 to 1.5 watts per square foot |
Often there is a mixture of both types - but for efficiency, always try to favor the fluorescent |
Bathroom |
30-40 watts per foot of width of vanity plus 1 to 2 watts per square foot of all lighting |
10-12 watts per foot of width of vanity plus 0.4 to 0.8 watts per square foot of all lighting |
Unless the bathroom is larger than 100 square foot, often the vanity light is all you really need. Make sure you employ glass shower or tub enclosure or a white translucent shower curtain |
Living Spaces |
Up to 3 watts per square foot |
Around 1 watt per square foot |
Also common to have a mixture somewhere in between |
Remember - this is only a rough estimate and many factors, such as the color of paint, height of ceiling, amount and size of furniture, and actual lighting equipment used can affect the outcome. |
Step 8: Add switching and dimming as needed to control
the lighting.
People tend to love dimmers, and compact fluorescent technology
is getting better all the time with dimming capabilities. There
are dimmable CFL bulbs on the market right now, but selection
is still limited.
The proper location for a switch or dimmer is a function of code
requirements (the National Electrical Code establishes some specific
locations where control devices are required) and common sense.
For example, the code requires a wall switch adjacent to the door
upon entry to a room. But you can also add a switch in a preferred
location, such as next to the bed.
Another choice available today, are motion sensors that automatically
switch lights. Motion sensors turn off lights when the room is
empty, and they are especially efficient devices in spaces like
garages, utility rooms and other spaces where lights are only
needed occasionally and are often left on inadvertently.
There are even more technologically sophisticated products that
permit handheld remote dimming, whole house master controls and
many other features.
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