licht.wissen No. 14 "Ideas for Good Home Lighting"

licht.wissen 14
Ideas for Good Home Lighting
Lighting Special: Lighting control, light and colour
Imagine the home as a stage. As in the theatre, light can be harnessed here to transport emotions and
create moods - from businesslike to romantic, stimulating to relaxing. Good lighting design offers the
possibility of crucially influencing residents’ sense of wellbeing.
[43] Mobile LED luminaires can be flexibly
used in the home to bathe rooms in
coloured light and create seamless colour
sequences.
[44] A lighting control system provides the
convenience of remote switching and dimming
– so no more need for the awkward
task of setting each luminaire individually.
[45-46] A sophisticated lighting concept
can imbue one and the same room with
totally different lighting atmospheres.
The blue view shows a fresh morning
with diffuse cool light and austere,
highly focused warm white accents. The
red example simulates a Mediterranean
autumn afternoon with warm, directional,
soft-edged light and reddish background
lighting.
A good play or film develops its drama
from skilled use of lighting. Sadly, the lighting
found in people’s homes often pales
in comparison. Drawing inspiration from
stage lighting can be very rewarding.
A variable lighting design needs to address
three basic functions: room lighting,
accent lighting and mood lighting.
Achieving the right mix and catering to
different mood and functional requirements
call for a variety of light sources with variable
luminous intensities.
This forms the basis for differentiated lighting,
just as on a stage. Now it is up to the
user to switch and dim the lights to suit
individual needs. A central lighting control
system is very convenient here. It offers
the opportunity to save complex lighting
scenes and retrieve them as required at
the push of a button. Any lighting mood
can thus be created – for a party or work
session, a quiet hour with a good book or
an intimate evening for two.
Dinner with friends, for example, thus
becomes a genuine lighting experience –
from the moment the guests are welcomed
in bright, widespread light through the
aperitif at twilight to the meal itself with
intense light over the table and accent light
picking out pictures on the walls. Dessert
is served in subdued warm indirect mood
light, in which the candles on the table
are suddenly much more prominent and
the conversations perhaps become more
intimate and intense.
The interaction of light, time and space
here can be harnessed to create a special
kind of suspense. Technical requirements
include signal receivers in luminaires or
junction boxes, which can be retrofitted.
Free-standing or table luminaires can also
be integrated at a later date by the use of
special adapter plugs.
43 44
24