The Design Brief™ | Volume VII | Effective Interior Design Lighting Strategies for Stunning Interiors
The key to impactful lighting design is truly layering. To appreciate the impact of layering to an impressive lighting scheme, let’s consider the opposite:
A kitchen that is lit by just one center surface-mounted fluorescent fixture
A bathroom lit solely by a three-bulb fixture over the mirror
An elementary classroom that is uniformly lit throughout by strip fluorescents—very effective for its intended purpose, but not at all interesting
A well-designed lighting scheme that adds beauty to a space needs to include a visual hierarchy of light levels: ambient lighting in most areas, but other areas with pools of light for visual interest.
By layering lighting, you are not just lighting the air in a room, you are often lighting walls, a ceiling, art pieces, surfaces, and other elements of interest, and letting that light bounce back into the space. You are deliberately putting higher intensity light levels in some areas, and lessening it in others.
Perhaps it is because nature contains different light levels—across the landscape and over the progression of time—that we are intrinsically drawn to a variation and disparity in light levels within our visual panorama. It speaks to our biological need for stimulation and relief from monotony.
Not only do we derive satisfaction from seeing natural elements and the changing landscape that evolves over the passage of hours, days, and months, but light greatly impacts human health and well-being. Countless studies over the last 50 years have confirmed the link between natural light and healing and recovery.
It is also interesting to consider that there are really only three sources of light: the sun, fire, and electrification. Until 150 years ago—when Thomas Edison developed the first practical type of incandescent lighting in 1879—the sun and fire were the only available sources for millennia. Our ancestors were subject to substantial risk from kerosene lamps, candles, and other sources of fire-produced light to illuminate their homes after the sun went down.
Today, great advancements in solid-state lighting, such as LEDs mean that we can have an abundance of light quality, sources, and effects. Light—natural or electrified—manipulates mood, enhances functionality, encourages activity, and enhances visual interest in our surroundings.
So, let’s look at how to manipulate light—both natural daylight from the sun, and electrified (artificial) light—to create environments that are optimally pleasing to our visual senses.
