ARCHITECTURAL LIGHT PLANNING: HOW TO DESIGN AND PLAN LIGHTING FOR YOUR HOME

SMART HOME LIGHTING DESIGN

Planning architectural lighting is an important part of any smart home installation. As any interior designer knows, getting it right can be the difference between coming home to a comfortable and safe house, and one that feels cold and unwelcoming. So before beginning your lighting plan, take some time to think about what your needs are and what mood you want your lighting to create. Here are some things to consider when designing your lighting plan.

FUNCTIONS OF YOUR LIGHTING SCHEME

Firstly, it might seem like an obvious question, but what functions do you want your lighting to perform?

Your kitchen may just be a working room where good task lighting is the priority, ensuring you have enough light to cook and prepare food safely. Alternatively, your kitchen could also be a sociable space where you entertain guests, in which case you would also need to create a more ambient lighting scheme for when guests arrive.

Bathroom lighting needs to have the right lighting for shaving or applying makeup but you may also want to have the ability to adjust light levels, creating a soft glow for a relaxing bath after a long day.

FUNCTION AND STYLE

Other living spaces in your home will have different lighting requirements.

Your bedroom lighting might need to be calming and relaxing for when you want to unwind at the end of the day, with a handy reading light, but bright and energising lighting for when you need to get up and start your day.

The home office might require good task lighting for when you are working, but if it serves another function on an evening you may also require softer lighting ideas to create a more relaxing space.

Safety may be your main priority for external lighting or perhaps you are looking to emphasise some architectural features of your home with carefully placed spotlights.

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what your lighting needs are for each space and how to achieve those goals, before starting your lighting plan

SMART HOME MOOD LIGHTING

Smart home lighting can completely change the feeling and atmosphere of a space, so it is important to think about what mood you want to create before you start planning your scheme.  Functional lighting is important but it is not the only thing to consider. A good lighting scheme should work well at any time of day so think about how your lighting scheme works in the morning, afternoon and evening.

TASK LIGHTING

You should consider direct lighting over areas where you need to work or carry out tasks using down lights, pendants or spotlights.  Make sure that the light sources are not in your line of sight when sitting or standing in the task area, and that you do not block light to the work surfaces with your own shadow.

ACCENT LIGHTING

This is used to highlight certain architectural features or pieces of furniture in a room and can be achieved using coffer lighting, spotlights, recessed lighting, track lighting or wash light.  It is important to ensure that any accent lighting you use does not cause glare or reflections on any surfaces in the room. A range of lighting types will allow you to change the mood and feel of the room.

WALL LIGHTS AND SPOT LIGHTS

Wall lights and spotlights can be used for illuminating artwork and family photographs.  Spotlights can also be used to highlight architectural features or can be used to provide task lighting over a workstation or kitchen island.

CHANDELIERS AND CEILING PENDANT LIGHTS

These are most commonly used as a decorative feature in a room and can be used to create ambient or diffused lighting.  They are often used in living rooms, hallways dining rooms and bedrooms. Though they but may not be the most efficient use of light in a room they certainly can set the style, and are a light source with a strong visual impact.

AMBIENT LIGHTING

This is the general even lighting used to brighten a whole room and make it feel warm and inviting. Common sources could include a combination of ceiling lights and a wall wash, with strategically placed table lamps and a floor lamp. Every room is different and needs to be treated on its own merits and needs. Lighting grids with row after row of downlights in every room can be very effective but can also be quite hard on the eye and not conducive to a relaxed environment. Ambient lighting creates a softer more inviting feel to a room.

NATURAL LIGHT

It is also important to understand the use of natural lighting and if possible make the most of any natural light in the room by placing furniture close to windows or using light-coloured curtains or blinds to allow as much light into the room as possible.  You can also use mirrors to bring light around a room and help brighten up dark corners. Understanding the natural light in your home will allow you to effectively place your light fittings for the best use of artificial light.

LIGHTING CONTROLS

With the increasing popularity of home automation systems, lighting controls are becoming more and more common in domestic properties. A dimmer switch can help give a soft light to a room but for even more control, smart lighting will have many benefits over the traditional light switch.

Smart light bulbs allow you to create different home lighting scenes to suit your mood or the time of day, and can even be linked to other automation features such as blinds and music systems. With a smart lighting system, you do away with the need for traditional dimmer switches and have the convenience of effectively controlling all your light switches from one central device. Utilising smart plugs, a table lamp or other light source can also be controlled through an app or hub.

ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS

Depending on the number of expected usages of a room, you will need a specific number of independent circuits of lighting to allow the flexibility needed to provide suitable lighting moods for each given use of the room. A room such as a kitchen/dining/living room, which has lots of uses, will require 6,7 or even more circuits to allow the lighting to work for each use of the space whereas an office or gym has much simpler lighting requirements and one or two circuits will often be sufficient. You may feel confident creating your lighting scheme but you will need a qualified electrician to bring your lighting design to fruition, following the lighting plans.

If you are at the design stage for your house or making major changes to a room you may want to consider employing an interior designer.

USING INTERIOR DESIGNERS

When designing lighting for your home the first key consideration is the architect’s plans of the house, natural lighting levels from windows and skylights, what the room will be used for and the positioning of your furniture and artwork throughout the house. Whilst this can be a challenging task at the early stages of a project it is vital to spend the time agreeing, as far as possible, on the likely positions of your furnishings, as this has a huge impact on the effectiveness of the lighting design.

When selecting fittings to achieve the best results many interior designers will also consider not just their style, size and wattage but also the colour temperature of the light bulb (in kelvins), the quality of the light (CRI value), the lumen output ( how much light they give out) and finally the beam angle. These key considerations allow you to create warm or cool feeling rooms, focus lighting directly onto specific features or provide general, even illumination to light your room beautifully.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD LIGHTING DESIGN

Lighting Design is one of the key elements of any new build home or renovation project. Considered and planned lighting will enhance the architectural and interior design features of the property, provide different lighting levels (moods) for each usage of the room and also enhance the safety and security of the property. For more information on planning a lighting scheme contact our team today.