Functional Lighting Design

Functional lighting offers the illumination required for running your daily activities. You need a lighted doorway so that you can walk safely at night. When choosing the lighting design for new structures, ensure that you take into consideration all the light uses- even in small spaces.
Once you have identified each spot that requires lighting and have established the desired quality of light, (whether a direct beam or a soft glow), you can go ahead and choose your best lighting style. However, there are several things you should take into consideration when choosing the best functional lighting for your home: Function of the room- Will you be using the room you intend to light for family life, entertainment or work? What zones do you need to illuminate? Once you’re certain about this, go ahead and install the right light. Set the right mood decorative LED fixtures and have fun. Light purpose- Basically, there are three different types of lighting; general, ambient, and task lighting. It’s important to note that a good lighting scheme blends all the three. Consider supplementing the general lighting from pendants or overhead chandeliers with task lighting from suspended pendants or dimmable LED task lamps. Amount of light needed- Today’s high-tech LEDs consume less power and product as much light as incandescent lights. Previously, brightness was measured in wattage but with the emergence of LEDs, brightness is now being measured in lumens. When it comes to lighting different rooms in your home, you need to know for sure how much light is required for each one of them. Wondering how to about it? Don’t worry. The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) provides these guidelines: · To illuminate a floor, you need 20 lumens per every foot. · For tables and raised surfaces, you’ll need 30 lumens per square foot. · To light your desk, figure out around 50 to seventy five lumens per square foot. Color choice- with the right lights in place, fabrics, patterned surfaces, as well as carpets really pop. On the contrary, installing the wrong lights will flatten even exciting colors and make them seem off. So, it’s important to always choose color temperatures that perfectly match specific situations.

What is Style Lighting?

Style lighting entails establishing an aesthetically driven environment and creating a unique personality using fixtures. From sconces, pendants, chandeliers, flush-mounts, track, or portable accessory lights, lighting can provide utilitarian detail, accentuate the wall textures with pieces of art, and cast a touch to dim corners. When it comes to style lighting, the primary goal is to inject a particular personality as well as ambiance to your space, so fixture design is a crucial factor. That’s why you need to really know your space or work with a lighting expert to help you choose a lighting system that is both functional and stylistic for your space. While attractive décor elements, floor lamps, as well as table lamps are designed to brighten up dark areas and deliver sufficient illumination to a particular spot, decisions about the positioning of both functional and style lighting fixtures are easily made before the walls are permanently sealed. You should check to ensure that an electrician can always access an existing wiring setup whenever there’s need to. The obvious reason is to supply adequate light for various rooms around the structure. However, you also need to enhance the ambient light with classic sconces, chandeliers, and pendants to enhance your home’s look and inject some elegance to it. The choices you make regarding style lighting are often influenced by the structure’s architectural theme. Both the interior and exterior elements present a new opportunity for you to create unique expressions and styles. The lighting fixtures you choose speak a lot about your personality, so be sure to set a creative tone for each room by making the right decisions. The lights above your kitchen island land or dining table can range from a graceful modern design to traditional arts and craft, or even bodacious glamour. With countless styles and designs available on the market, you’ll readily find a fixture that’ll make the statement you’re craving for. With the proper lighting system, you can create a world-class environment around your home.
To achieve this you need to really know your space or work with a lighting expert to help you choose a lighting system that is both functional and stylistic for your space.

A Guide to LUX light levels

One key aspect of lighting design is to get the required lighting levels for a space which is dependent on its usage. The following table provides a guide to typically what LUX levels are appropriate for different applications.

Description of Space	Comments	Light Level in LUX
Relaxation Area	Warm ambient space	120
Domestic Bedroom	Relaxation and Occasional Reading	200
Domestic Office	Computer and reading	250
Corridors/ Restroom	Occasional reading	150
Storage Area	No small print	150
Commercial Office	General Use	500
Retail Shop	Usage dependent	600
Sports Hall	LUX increases with level of sport	500
Car Park	Higher at entrance	100
Workshop	For detail work	750
Operating Theatre	medical work	1000

Once you have analysed the usage patterns and requirements, then the next task is to design the adequate lighting, based on the LUX level requirements for the space.

Office Simulation Example

In this example we are using 600x600mm LED panels to light an office area. The first step is to select a luminaire which is in this case is a 600x600mmm LED panel and load the necessary light output data for this unit into the simulation. The industry standard for this is by using an IES file which provides details of lumens output and all angles from the lamp centre. In this example we have used DIALux as the simulation tool. From here the panels can be positioned in the ceiling in the initial desired position. A working level is then selected, typically 0.75m above the floor, to simulate the light level at and then the simulation can be run. It is normally necessary to then review the output and optimise the positioning and also possibly the number of panels to get the desired LUX level on the working plane. In this case we are looking for an average maintained LUX level of 500. The following diagram then shows the lighting design for the office area which can be seen with 14 LED panels placed in the ceiling to obtain the required illumination. As shown at the base of the chart we have achieved a maintained LUX level of 499 which is ideal. The concept maintained means that we have allowed a light depreciation of 20% over the life of the luminaire and consequently have selected a maintenance factor of 0.8. This means that the LUX level at the start of usage will be 625 LUX.

Office lighting Rendering

The illustration below then provides a 3D visual rendering which pictorially presents the lighting level in the space.