The Psychology behind Architectural Lighting!

Lighting plays a large role in the overall mood of a space. Consider entering a low-lit parking garage, a romantic restaurant, or a large day-lit atrium. How does lighting in these scenarios impact your experience? How about in a theater when the lights dim before the show? Do you tend to forget you’re in a large room with hundreds of people, does it feel more intimate? Different lighting strategies can warp the perspective and significantly alter the feeling of a space.

John Flynn, a pioneer in Lighting psychology, studied the impact of lighting to create various subjective impressions. Specifically, he studied the uniformity and peripheral lighting patterns. He documented his findings and determined lighting can strongly influence impressions of Spaciousness / Confinement, Visual Clarity / Haziness, Relaxation / Activation, Private/ Public.

Spaciousness

·       Uniform peripheral lighting – specifically lighting vertical wall surfaces

·       Uniform bright ceilings

·       Brightness is reinforcing, but not decisive

Visual Clarity – Visual environment distinctness – i.e. how well can tasks be seen

·      Higher light levels on horizontal surfaces: workplane, ceiling plane

·      Light in central area of room

·      Some wall luminance

·      Cooler, white light

Relaxation

·       non-uniform peripheral lighting

·       lower light levels

·       warmer-toned light sources

Privacy

·       non-uniform

·       lower brightness in zone of user

·       higher brightness in zones surrounding user

·       wall lighting

As informed lighting designers, we can apply John Flynn’s research to provide better quality lighting solutions. For example, in a lobby with a low floor to ceiling height, we can provide perimeter coves and uniform wall washing to make the space feel larger. In a restaurant, we can avoid large areas of peripheral wall washing, and instead opt for lower light levels of warm-toned, non-uniform lighting. We can add wall sconces and pendants over dining areas to provide functional light while creating that feeling of relaxation. In a open office space – we can provide a cooler-toned direct/indirect pendant lighting to allow for higher brightness at ceiling and workplane levels to aid in visual clarity.  This knowledge and toolset is one of the many aspects that sets the SRD team apart.