About on how badly we architects project light

Each and every one of us spends 90% of the day indoors. In places where lighting is too cold, too intense, too constant, and with an absolutely poor and unbalanced spectrum. We suffer from eyestrain, insomnia, stress, low vital energy... constant unhappines, in the end .

To take care of ourselves, we try to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods, we buy organically grown fruits and vegetables, and we make sure that everything that comes into our fridge is “bio”. Good. Oh, and we sign up for the gym. Great.?

All of this helps, I'm not saying the opposite, but we don't realize that it's not enough: because we continue to spend 90% of our time in spaces that affect negatively on our health. Why? Because of bad lighting.

Because we architects are not trained in lighting. Neither natural nor artificial. Neither in universities nor in masters. However, we project the light in each and every one of our projects. And we do it badly, very badly. Without being aware of how much it will affect the health of the users who will inhabit our spaces.

We have gone from living abroad practically all the time to leaving the house just to get in the car, being locked up in the office for 10 hours, going to the supermarket and going back home. And this radical change in behavior can only bring negative consequences.

Lack of exposure to natural light causes our body to not function properly. It alters our biological rhythm and decompensates it.

Okay, we can't work outdoors or permanently next to a window. Correct. But we can try to understand what are the virtues of natural light to choose properly the artificial light, right?

Natural light is variable in many ways: in color temperature, in wavelength, and in intensity. The same is happens with the ambient temperature and humidity (I will better leave that to the specialists in these fields, because my field is lighting).

Today, many LED light sources manage to mimic the characteristics of natural light: it is all about knowing how to analyze the technical data sheets of the luminaires and choose well the product with which we are going to project .

Too cold light stimulates productivity. But on the contrary, it prevents the segregation of melatonin, which is the hormone responsible for sleep. We are not laying hens, so lighting that is too cold and at constant levels is a bad decision. Let's explore neutral tones or if the budget of the project allows it, let's implement tunnable white lighting with a data protocol.

The lights that dazzle cause visual fatigue: be careful with the UGR's over 19.

Regarding the spectrum (which is not the same as the color to!): a spectrum that is too unbalanced will cause cell damage in our eye retina. Be careful with the wavelengths in the 480Nm. This is pocket friendly and is an incredible improvement.

Finally, two other enemies of visual health: homogeneity and contrasts that are too pronounced. So then? Let's try to find degraded levels in space. With this we come to the importance of design: foreseeing the lighting from the beginning of the project is essential. Know the technique and strategies. What does the market offer us? The light should not be an addition: those points of light that we will drag until the end of the project, with a budget that we will allocate to other items until it is at a ridiculous minimum. Let's be aware that if we sacrifice the quality of light, we sacrifice the user's health.

Projecting lighting well is not easy and there is no recipe applicable to all spaces.

But as in everything, understanding the importance of the subject and training in it, or relying on specialized professionals, is the basis for a change in consciousness and the fight against acquired bad habits.

Gisela Steiger. December 2022.

#futureofarchitecture #newarchitecture #lightingdesign #lighting #biologicaleffects