LIGHTING DESIGN: LECTURE - 3
Layering: approach to lighting Design
LIGHTING DESIGN: LECTURE - 3
Layering: approach to lighting Design
Adding Light in Layers: The Five Layer Approach
Origin of the lights source
Light map
•Avoid thinking of lighting
as a one-step process
•Identify the reasons we
add light to a space
•Lets you notice how
much can be changed and
altered with light
•Give you Multiple of
opportunities to come up
with good ideas
Avoid designing a complete project, only to “light it up” at the end
Layer 1: Lighting to choreograph and experience
•Use Phototropism to lead
people from one place to the
next
•goals that are obvious
destinations
•sub-conscious way finding
Choreographing in light becomes a sequence of one lighted goal
after the next
The Keys to success in creating a choreography document:
•Think in terms of light onto surfaces
•Try not to dwell on constructability, practicality, fixtures or fixture
locations.
•Focus simply on quality of light and location of the light itself
•Focus in the geometry of the space: Vertical surfaces, protruding
surfaces, unique materials, unique forms.
Good choreography can create intuitive way finding and make a
space “self-guiding”
Layer 2: Lighting to define mood and ambience
•Relate emotions to qualities
of light
•the three basic controllable
elements
•Intensity
•Color
•Texture
•help you come up with more
effective and concrete
choreography elements.
Don’t over-think each layer. Go with your instinct, know that there
are more layers to come.
Layer 2:
•Move Beyond just “Brightness” / intensity, Color and texture(Anything
other than traditional downlighting)
MENTAL CHECK LIST
•Effects of directional accent lighting:
• harsh, dramatic,
•deep shadows, contrast
•Effects of diffuse downlighting:
•Reduce shadows, render faces
•Flatten objects, hide texture
Layer 2:
•Effects of diffuse uplighting:
•Give volume when brighten a dark ceiling
•Confining when revealing a ceiling that would otherwise go
away
•Calming / serene
•Lighting through inter-reflectance can severely flatten objects
•Effects of color casts
•Warmth and softness for personal intimate spaces:
comforting and calming
•Coolness for more public, sterile, clean, cold, cerebral spaces
Think of ideas as far from “normal” as possible, knowing that the
tendency is to migrate back there.
Layer 3: Lighting to create accent and visual interest
•Emphasize importance
of objects
•Add elements of sparkle
•Create contrast and
variety
Take time to consider each layer individually
Layer 3:
•Light onto vertical surfaces creates the perception of brightness
•So, we can accent objects and surfaces to create visual interest,
hierarchy and logic
•Accented Art as visual interest
•Accented vertical surfaces as perceived brightness,
•Lighted furniture as gathering areas
LIGHT is our medium and LIGHTED OBJECTS, our tools of
design
Layer 4: Lighting to reveal architecture and space
•Represent architecture in a
way that lighting is not
necessarily noticed, but the
forms of the space are
•Reveal surfaces to define
boundaries or to add volume
•Vary light technique to
break up space
•Unify spaces with common
lighting
Lighting Architecture Identify the overall character and the details
and features of space and architecture elements
Layer 4:
Lighting to reveal architecture takes two forms:
1. The general lighting character
of the space
•Uplight, downlight, wall
washing, ceiling wash, soft,
spotty, etc.
Layer 4:
Lighting to reveal architecture takes two forms:
2. The specific architectural nuances that demand lighting
attention
•Columns: uplighting and downward accenting
•Coffers: uplighting or framing
•Soffits: washing
•Coves, slots, niches: perimeter lighting, cove lighting, framing
Lighting for specific architectural nuances that demand
lighting attention
Layer 5: Lighting for specific tasks
•Consider more than just sheer quantity
•Visual comfort for tasks
•Flexibility for different uses
•Unfortunately many designers think only in terms of the fifth layer
•Complicate up front, knowing that it is easy to simplify as you go
•It is easier to eliminate ideas than to come up with new ones
If we design the first layers successfully, the later layers may
have already been solved
• Expand your lighting vocabulary by thinking the aspects
of light
• Make yourself a chart like this
– Intensity
• Bright vs. dark
– Texture
• Directional vs. diffuse
– Color
• Warm vs. Cool (and literal colors)
– Shape
• Planes and lines vs. pools and scallops
– Origin
• Traditional vs. Non traditional
•Take time to identify each piece of light, and which layer it is
supporting.
Origin of the lights source (where is the light coming from)
– The goal: Expand your mind to think of lighting character other
than recessed fixtures in the ceiling washing down onto the floor
– A basic visual language to run through:
• Floor mounted fixtures
washing and accenting
upward
• Floor mounted fixtures
washing and accenting
upward
• Wall mounted fixture
washing upward
• Wall mounted fixture
washing back onto the wall
• Wall mounted fixture
washing back onto the wall
• Wall mounted fixtures lighting the floor and steps
• Slots and coves that bleed out into space
– Horizontal slots at ceiling / wall joints (continuous
linear sources)
– Vertical slots to wash across a wall
– Coves that diffuse light up into a coffer or ceiling
• Diffuse glowing sources
to add soft character to
an area
• The Light Map:
– Why the light map works
• Communicating ideas visually
• Exploring your space in detail
• Encourage brainstorming and creative ideas specific to your
space
• Encouraging your understanding and design team interaction
• Lighting problems solve themselves
• The nomenclature and symbols of the document
The descriptions of each lighting event (keyed to each event)
• Texture / description of the light
• Psychological effect of the light
• Interaction with the surface
Graphics (visually show your ideas)
• The light (and lack there of)
• Path of experience / view cones
• Logic of one event to the next
LIGHTING DESIGN LECTURE 3
For Next Week
Assignment-1 (last week)
bring in furnished floor plan and section of your project.
Assignment -2
• Write a brief project description
• Light Map: Map the five layers into your project
•Individual plans and sections for each layer
• a plan and a section merging all the layers
• Come up with your own representation of light
• Use Photoshop or illustrator to present your work
