Sage Russell.

The Architecture Of Light Notes (chapter 4)

“LIGHTING THROUGH GLASS

Lighting glass can be understood by recognizing that as a transparent material, we cannot light
glass itself. Light directed toward glass either passes through or reflects directly back.

Because of this property, if there is nothing to see beyond a piece of glass, the glass will simply
act as a mirror. This has two important design consequences.

 First, it is worth noting that luminaires placed close to windows tend to reflect a direct
image of the bright source right back at us. For this reason it is good practice to avoid
placing interior luminaires right next to glass and windows.

 Secondly, it means that our best chance of drawing attention through glass is to create
bright surfaces and objects beyond the glass. This leads us to light exterior features to
draw attention through glass openings. It also leads us to wash light onto exterior eves
and overhangs just beyond our windows.

SUPPLEMENTING DECORATIVE LUMINAIRES

Hopefully, it is clear through all of our discussions that glowing decorative sources of light are
not ideal stand-alone tools for our version of integrated architectural lighting design.

Decorative luminaires do have an important place in our lighting tool vocabulary, but[…]”