licht.wissen No. 11 "Good Lighting for Hotels and Restaurants"

Restaurants
Restaurant lighting should be lowkey
for all service areas except buffets;
the emphasis should be on the
arrangement of tables.
At the same time, it should be assumed that
the "observer principle" applies, i.e. that
people prefer all active areas to be cast in
a brighter light than themselves.
In a restaurant context, this means the surface
of the table should be more brightly lit
than the surroundings, though guests
should still be able to make one another
out clearly.
T
he lighting designer also needs to
pay attention to the colour rendering
properties of the lamps used in the
luminaires.
This is because good colour rendering is
essential for ensuring that the freshness
and delicacy of food is immediately apparent.
Like light colour, colour rendering is standardised.
It is expressed as a colour rendering
index R a , based on the rendering of
test colours commonly found in the environment.
R a = 100 is the best possible value;
the lower the index, the poorer the
colour rendering properties.
In restaurants and kitchens, a minimum of
R a 80 is required; R a 90 is better.
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