SEARCH From over 300 features and guides on this site
GRAND DESIGNS: TRADE SECRETS
The Future's Bright
Lighting is commonly thought of as the most neglected design element in the average self-build project. Get it wrong and even the most carefully planned room will fail to meet your expectations. Get it right, and it’ll be the defining characteristic of a project’s success.
Here in the UK we’re used to being bathed in a pale grey light and an even paler grey drizzle. But as our cities become ever more populated with both buildings and people, architects are being forced to find increasingly intelligent ways of bringing light into the design process.
In any self-build project it is absolutely essential to ensure maximum levels of natural light, both from an energy-saving perspective but also for the benefit of the occupants. But where even the best architects often go wrong is on how to compliment nature’s rays with supplementary electrical lighting in a way that enhances the experience for the building’s user.
The biggest and most commonly ignored rule of lighting design is to incorporate it into even the most preliminary design discussions. In the same way that plumbing and wiring are fundamentals, so should lighting be if it’s to succeed. Drawing up a furniture plan will influence everything from positioning switches and lights to mapping out wiring.
The best projects will incorporate several smaller sources of light, each beamed from different heights and in different directions. There’s nothing more visually stunning and also incredibly practical than having a well-planned blend of uplights, downlights, lamps, floor lights and ceiling lights.
