Office lighting solutions
Natural light in offices
Considering that many people on average spend as much as 90% of our time indoors, we do not receive enough natural light. Thus, adequate office lighting levels is imperative for anyone working in office spaces as these are often partly or fully deprived of natural lighting.
Light affects us quite differently over the course of a day. This makes the element of time essential in the planning of light and architecture. When we plan the light in buildings, we should draw learnings from studying the changes in our bodily activity over the course of a day -
our circadian rhythm: the human brain’s 24-hour clock for cycling through sleepiness and alertness at regular intervals.
When solving various tasks at offices – whether these are at a desk, in meeting rooms or elsewhere across offices, the lack of natural lighting in offices means your eyes are hard at work, and if you do not have adequate office lighting levels, you will unconsciously tense your eye muscles. This can lead to headaches and make it difficult to concentrate on the tasks at hand and therefore reduce productivity.
Ginnerup Architects: NJP Table, VL45 Pendant, Panthella MINI, Ripls
Office desk lighting
Office lighting levels
During daytime – most of the time spent in offices - we are more active than in the morning, evening and at night. Because of that, we tend to utilize cooler and higher intensities of light than we do in our homes. In summer, these high intensities are experienced as lower than in winter, where warmer color temperatures often are preferred. Daylight is the only variable, and the only factor causing this perceived difference.
In the future, the planning of light – and darkness – will be taken even more seriously than today as lighting is one of the most important aspects of a building design, and should be incorporated from the start of the process. The industry is moving in the direction of human-centric lighting, and the research from the commercial industry is available and at our disposal.
