Basic Concepts of Lighting Design | Electrical Engineer | MEP Design |
Lighting system design is a very important aspect of construction projects, and the best performance is achieved when lighting is specified through detailed calculations and not “rules of thumb”. However, lighting has a key difference with other building systems like HVAC and plumbing: there is a subjective and artistic factor involved. Lighting systems must provide adequate visibility, but they also set the ambiance of built environments. Effective communication is important in any engineering design process, and this is only possible if the parties involved are familiarized with key technical concepts. This article will provide an overview of the main terms used when specifying lighting systems.
Lighting system design is a very important aspect of construction projects, and the best performance is achieved when lighting is specified through detailed calculations and not “rules of thumb”. However, lighting has a key difference with other building systems like HVAC and plumbing: there is a subjective and artistic factor involved. Lighting systems must provide adequate visibility, but they also set the ambiance of built environments.
Effective communication is important in any engineering design process, and this is only possible if the parties involved are familiarized with key technical concepts. This article will provide an overview of the main terms used when specifying lighting systems.
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Using Temperature Values To<br />
Describe <strong>Lighting</strong> Colour<br />
Objects glow in a characteristic colour depending on their temperature,<br />
and this is why lava from a volcano looks red. The same principle applies<br />
to stars, where a yellow star like the Sun is hotter than a red star, and a<br />
blue star is hotter than a yellow one. In physics, this behaviour is<br />
described by an abstract concept called a “black body”, which is an object<br />
that emits no light except when heated, and each temperature<br />
corresponds with a specific colour glow.<br />
Light sources are not heated to the temperature implied by their CCT<br />
value, but it is a convenient way to assign a numerical value to their<br />
colour. In most residential and commercial applications, the CCT value <strong>of</strong><br />
lighting ranges from 2700K (yellowish white) to 6500K (bluish white). In<br />
other words, if a light product has a CCT <strong>of</strong> 4000K, it means it glows with<br />
the same colour as a “black body” at 4000K, but the light source itself does<br />
not reach that temperature!
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