Essay | Light for Well-Being Part 1/5

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29/08/2024 - With high levels of stress and anxiety frequently reported in the press, it is no surprise that, as a society, we are increasingly looking for ways to improve our sense of well-being. As lighting designers, we are highly aware of the positive impact our work can have on how people feel physically and emotionally, which we believe contributes to their overall sense of well-being. We are also aware that while artificial light can help the human population, it can create problems for various flora and fauna whose environment we share. This 5-part series shares our thoughts on how we believe lighting design can positively influence well-being, while equally mitigating harm to the planet.

How can lighting design impact well-being?

Comfort

Considering how lighting can influence our comfort in interior spaces usually focuses on providing task-appropriate lighting levels and colour temperatures, avoiding glare and flicker, and considering people's diverse physiological and psychological needs. Designing for comfort in exterior lighting is about fostering a sense of psychological safety and security, supporting intuitive wayfinding and navigation, and providing good facial recognition and spatial legibility. Ensuring that we retain areas of darkness for visual respite also contributes to a comfortable lighting scheme, amongst the other positive benefits of minimising light pollution and protecting the natural environment.


Designing lighting for comfort should form the fundamental basis of any well-designed lighting solution, informed by existing lighting standards and good practice guidelines and refined by good judgment.


Using light selectively to highlight entrances, key routes, and destinations creates a highly legible environment after dark, contributing to a sense of psychological safety and comfort in being able to navigate the area intuitively.

Health

When we think about the influence of light on our biological health, the most significant consideration is the effect of natural light, which impacts our circadian rhythms, hormone levels and mood. Since artificial light can deliver just a tiny fraction of the light provided by the sun, perhaps the most meaningful influence we can have on people's health as lighting designers is when we work with architects to inform the design of windows, rooflights, and other openings, together with spatial arrangements, so that building users get sufficient exposure to daylight. Minimising the use of blue wavelengths late in the evening is important in our exterior public realm work, hotel rooms and domestic environments, but less so in the design of shared interior spaces.


For Maggie's in Lanarkshire, we worked closely with the architects to integrate a central reflective cube, providing golden reflections of the surrounding trees and a connection to nature deep within the central core of the building.

Happiness

Beyond physiological and biological responses, contributing to a state of 'happiness' is where we believe creative lighting design has the most potential to positively influence people's well-being.


Environmental psychologists have spent time mapping the aspects of our environment that are most likely to make us happy and those which contribute to feelings of depression. Their findings show that while our responses to our environment are both individually and socially informed, some responses to our environment are widely shared even across cultural boundaries. The age-old maxim might state that happiness comes from within, but we know that our environment also plays a vital role in how we feel. Designing with light to increase people's enjoyment and make their experience of the built environment more meaningful is therefore central to our approach.


We feel that the aspects of lighting design most likely to evoke a sense of happiness can be described through the physical, visual and emotional connections that light can create and reinforce. 


In Salisbury Gardens, Hong Kong, light is embedded into the landscape surrounding a dark lawn, creating an attractive backdrop for people to gather and socialise.


You can read Part 2 here.