ARC 409: ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL II.

LIGHTING AND ILLUMINATION.

Preview of Natural Lighting

Basic Principles of Artificial Lighting
Illumination Standards
Space geometry and Lighting Distribution.

Module 1: LIGHTING AND ILLUMINATION.

An environmental factor that affects every human is Light. One of the most important
considerations when designing lighting for spaces is the people that will use and move through
these spaces bearing in mind that individual differences vary here as they do for all other
environmental elements. These inclinations can be set more credence where human activities are
more diverse and less concentrated, as with places of abode. The elderly, for instance, prefer and
oftentimes have need of more light than the younger age bracket.

Inadequate lighting will make the most sophisticatedly designed space become dreary and
uninspiring. The subject of lighting is not often considered as a contributory feature in the
achievement or failure of a room due to limited understanding of its application. The application
of light sources in interiors requires the designer to have adequate understanding of different
forms and arrangement of light and how it affects the surroundings.

The Dictionary of Architecture and Construction (2006) defines lighting as the various
processes, systems, forms, and/or equipment used to provide light and illumination. A rather
technical definition is put forward by Addington & Schodek (2005) as ‘visually evaluated radiant
energy’. Radiant energy, or electromagnetic radiation, is energy movement through space in the
form of oscillating or fluctuating electric and magnetic disturbances. Light is thus the physical
phenomenon most responsible for humans’ perception of the world. Baiche and Walliman (2000)
informs that the visible spectrum is between 380 and 780nm that is between ultraviolet and
infrared radiation (See fig 1).

Electromagnetic radiation as discussed by Addington & Schodek (2005) and Okeke, Okeke &
Akande (2008) can be characterized by its energy (E), wavelength (λ – distance from wave crest
to wave crest, in simple terms the distance covered by the wave after one complete cycle) and
frequency (v – the number of cycles the wave completes in one second) all of which are
interrelated in the following two equations:
 …Equation 1

Where c = the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s)

…Equation 2

Where h = Planck’s constant (6.626 10-27 erg-seconds)

LIGHT SOURCES
These are basically two:
1. Natural Lighting
2. Artificial Lighting

Natural Lighting: this is also referred to daylight, and is the visible radiant energy of the sun. It
varies widely in colour and intensity and as such has a psychological effect, basically that of well
- being. Daylight use has distinct physical and psychological benefits. Influx of light to interior
spaces could be through the introduction of high - level windows at any level in a wall, by
opening an entire wall or through skylights. Natural light gives objects warm flattering tones that
have soothing feels.
Architects have long recognised the function of light in their designs; F.L. Wright made daylight
an integral part of his with use of heavy overhangs and cantilevered construction that created
dramatic shadows at low levels while A.H. Aalto did wonders with his use of skylights in many
an institutional building design. Uniform day lighting was also achieved through the use of
multilateral day lighting in which light comes from more than one level.
Habitable rooms and rooms for ancillary services are provided with adequate lighting especially
in residential designs where the spaces could be used at any time. The appearance of a room in
natural light should be considered and where possible, transparent or approved translucent
glazing materials should be applied.
Artificial Lighting: this can be controlled and can stimulate activity, inventiveness or relaxation,
change the scenery of space, direct human movement, make available an apt atmosphere,
produce and silhouette forms, and augment the opulence of texture of interiors. Light and colour
can be used to set a backdrop in interior spaces as their combination could create entirely
attractive effects.
Lighting should be considered from the inception of any plan for the interior of any
building; as generally agreed, addition of lighting at the plan stage helps accomplish the
originality that comes with the effects of the architectural space and the interior design. For the
application of any kind of artificial lighting, a lighting engineer is the authority to be consulted
but as with all other phases of designing interiors, some understanding of systems and methods
on the part of the designer will aid in making the right selection.
Terms used to designate the elements that have been isolated from the total effect of
natural light and utilised in lighting design include ambience, beam, focus, glitter, silhouette, and
variety.

Artificial Light Systems

There are some basic systems of light and these make use of five kinds of light: direct,
indirect, direct - indirect, semi-direct and semi-indirect. Direct light is that which shines straight
onto the object or area close to it, thus providing the sharpest contrast between light and dark.
This is not always desirable and is known to cast dramatic shadows and produces glare if the
units are not properly spaced or shielded.
Indirect light is a secondary light that results from the reflection of light from an original
source, which is thrown against another surface e.g. ceiling or wall from where it is reflected.
Here, the ceiling or wall is regarded as a part of the light source and its colour is therefore a
crucial element in the quality of light produced. The diffuse quality of indirect light minimises
shadows and reflected glare, added to this is the fact that it is softer and can being less dramatic
would do well for general illumination.
Direct – indirect light results from the even distribution of light from direct and indirect
sources. It is also referred to as general diffuse light and it is interesting to know that any kind of
fixture that has bulbs on the inside and a reflector on the outside such as a table lamp produces
diffuse light. If the fixtures are unshielded, then the problem of glare and shadows are more
pronounced.
Semi – direct arrangements are those in which, 60-90 percent of the light is directed
down to the work surface, with a small amount directed upward. Semi – indirect on the other
hand is characterised as directing light 60 – 90 percent towards the ceiling and upper walls with
the ceiling as the main reflective source or surface.

Artificial Light Sources

Artificial lighting is usually provided with lamps such as filament lamps, low voltage
halogen lamps, high pressure discharge lamps and fluorescent lamps (Baiche & Walliman,
2000). In view of the fact that the at some distance away from the windows natural lighting
reduces considerably, lamps are usually required to support natural lighting.
Figure 1: Spectrum of Electromagnetic Radiation.
Source: Baiche & Walliman (2000).
 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
The basic characteristics of light as discussed by Addington & Schodek (2005) are:

1. Light travels in a straight line between two points.

2. When light strikes a surface, it can be absorbed, transmitted and/or reflected. For any
given surface, the amounts of each are determined by the ratioed material
properties of reflectance (r), transmittance (t) and absorptance(a), such that:

r+t+a=1 ….equation 3

3. If light is reflected, it will reflect from a surface at the same angle as it arrived but in the
other direction. This is also known as the law of reflection, where the angle of incidence
of radiation is equal to the angle of reflection:

……equation 4

4. If light is transmitted, it will refract at an angle related to the ratio of the refractive indices
of the two media. This is also known as the law of refraction: When light passes from one
medium to another, its path is deflected. The degree of deflection is dependent upon a
material property known as the index of refraction (n). The value of n is measured with
respect to the passage of light through a vacuum, and, as a result, all transparent
media, from air to diamond, have indices of refraction greater than one. The amount of
deflection is determined from the following relationship:

sin 1 = n21 sin 2…Equation 5

where n21 is the index of refraction of medium 2 with respect to medium 1.

Some architectural lighting associations responsible for the development of lighting studies in
some countries include International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), the Professional
Lighting Designers Association in Europe, Schweizerische Licht Gesellschaft (SLG) in
Switzerland, the Association des Concepteurs Lumière et Éclairagistes (ACE) in France,
Hellenic Illumination Committee (HIC) in Greece, the Associazione Professionisti
dell'Illuminazione (APIL) in Italy. In Nigeria, most architectural lighting designs are by
electrical engineers.
Architectural lighting design focuses on three fundamental aspects of the illumination of
buildings or spaces. The first is the aesthetic appeal of a building, an aspect particularly
important in the illumination of retail environments. Secondly, the ergonomic aspect: the
measure of how much of a function the lighting plays. Thirdly is the energy efficiency issue to
assure that light is not wasted by over-illumination, either by illuminating vacant spaces
unnecessarily or by providing more light than needed for the aesthetics or the task, (Steffy, 2002)
There is a natural variation between lighting levels in the interiors. This reduces with the distance
on a horizontal plane as exemplified in the figure 2 below:

Figure 2: Daylight ratio with side lighting, showing the reference plane and the variation in
daylight in the internal area.
Source: Baiche & Walliman (2000).

LIGHT LEVELS.
Light level or illuminance is the total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area.
(Engineering toolbox, 2011).
The metric unit of illuminance is lux (in the metric SI system) which is the number of lumens per
square meter (IESNA, op cit). Another unit is the footcandle (ftcd, fc, fcd), which is the number
of lumens per square foot.
Thus; 1 lux = 1 lumen / sq meter = 0.0001 phot = 0.0929 foot candle (ftcd, fcd) ..eqtn
The outdoor light level is approximately 10,000 lux on a clear day (see table 1). In the building,
in the area closest to windows, the light level may be reduced to approximately 1,000 lux. In the
middle area it may be as low as 25 - 50 lux. Additional lighting equipment is often necessary to
compensate the low levels. (engineering toolbox.com, 2011). The recommended office lighting
levels in the 1930s were around 269 lux, the 1960 recommended practice for office lighting
guidelines advised illuminance levels of between 1076 – 1615 lux (Oldfield, Trabucco, & Wood,
2009). Today the light level is more common in the range 500 - 1000 lux - depending on activity.
For precision and detailed works, the light level may even approach 1500 - 2000 lux (See table
2).
Table 1: Common light levels outdoor at day and night.

Condition Illumination
(ftcd) (lux)
Sunlight 10,000 107, 527
Full daylight 1,000 10, 752
Overcast day 100 1,075
Very dark day 10 107
Twilight 1 10.8
Deep twilight .1 1.08
Full moon .01 .108
Quarter moon .001 .0108
Star light .0001 .0011
Overcast light .00001 .0001
Source: (www.engineering toolbox.com, 2011).

Table 2: Recommended light level in different work spaces.

Activity Illumination (lux, Lumen/m2)

Public areas with dark surroundings 20-50
Simple orientation for short visits 50 - 100
Working areas where visual tasks are only 100 -150
occasionally performed
Warehouses, Homes, Theaters, Archives 150
Easy office work, classes 250
Normal Office Work, PC Work, Study Library, 500
Groceries, Show Rooms, Laboratories
Supermarkets, Mechanical Workshops, Office 750
Landscapes
Normal Drawing Work, Detailed Mechanical 1000
Workshops, Operation Theatres
Detailed Drawing Work, Very Detailed 1500-2000
Mechanical Works
Performance of visual tasks of low contrast and 2000-5000
very small size for prolonged periods of time
Performance of very prolonged and exacting 5000-10000
visual tasks
Performance of very special visual tasks of 10000-20000
extremely low contrast and small size
Source: www.engineeringtoolbox.com (2011)
8.0 DEFINITION OF TERMS

8.1 ACCENT LIGHTING

Directional lighting to emphasize a particular object or surface feature or to draw attention to a
part of the field of view (IESNA 2000).
8.2 AMBIENT LIGHTING
Lighting throughout an area that produces general illumination (IESNA 2000).
8.3 DAYLIGHTING
Indoor illumination provided by natural light entering the space through some type of
fenestration that results in a reduction of necessary electrical lighting for ambient, accent,
emergency, or task lighting.
8.4 ELECTRIC-DISCHARGE LAMP
A lamp in which light is produced by passing an electric current through a gas (IESNA 2000).
Examples include fluorescent lamps, high intensity discharge lamps, sodium lamps, and neon
lamps.
8.5 EMERGENCY LIGHTING
Lighting designed to supply illumination essential to the safety of life and property in the event
of failure of the normal supply (IESNA 2000).
8.6 ILLUMINANCE
The area density of the luminous flux incident at a point on a surface. The metric unit of
illuminance is lux, which is the number of lumens per square meter (IESNA 2000). Another unit
is the footcandle, which is the number of lumens per square foot.
8.7 LUMEN
SI unit of luminous flux. Radiometrically, it is determined from the radiant power as in luminous
flux. Photometrically, it is the luminous flux emitted within a unit solid angle by a point source
having a uniform luminous intensity of 1 candela (IESNA 2000).
8.8 LUMINANCE
Luminance is the converse of illuminance. The former describes the intensity of light that is
leaving a surface, whereas the latter describes the intensity of light that is falling on a surface
(Wulfinghoff, 1999).
8.9 LUX
2
The SI unit of illuminance. One lux is one lumen per square meter (lm/m ). The equivalent
English units are footcandles and the conversion between lux and footcandles is lux =
footcandles × 10.76 (IESNA 2000).
8.10 ILLUMINANCE METER
A light-sensing, solid-state device with an output signal corresponding to the amount of light
incident to (falling on) the measurement surface of the device. This meter should be cosine-
corrected and colour-corrected to better match the human visual response (IESNA 2000).
8.11 MEASURE
To determine a quantity with a calibrated instrument. This includes using previously measured
data such as those shown on a utility bill or engineering log.
8.12 TASK LIGHTING
Lighting directed to a specific surface or area that provides illumination for visual tasks (IESNA
2000).