Light Work First published in Building Products News, Nov/Dec 2001, ©Reed Business Information Australia 2001

©Reed Business Information Australia

What makes for good lighting design? Susan Lambert from award-winning practice NDYLIGHT throws a light on the subject, for Katrina Fox

At the GPO building's restaurant in Sydney directional lighting is used to accentuate light and shade areas created by an undulating bulkhead running along one of the walls. 'The ceiling's natural curve is used to subtly spotlight individual tables with additional lighting provided by small incandescent bud lights behind the banquet seating,' NDYLIGHT's design director Susan Lambert says, as she explains the importance of lighting in architectural projects.'Light can be used to enhance a space, provide the mood or atmosphere desired and highlight architectural elements along with the more functional requirements of visibility and providing safe passage'.

Being involved early on in a project and working closely with the architects are key factors in achieving the desired look for a building, she says. 'If the lighting designer is involved in the project from the early stages, we will be able to incorporate lighting concepts into the architectural detailing. If our involvement is late in a project the integrated lighting solutions may become restricted. 'The architect or interior designer would tell us their overall concepts for the space. They may describe how they would like to see it and we can advise on lighting solutions and the various techniques used to achieve these solutions. Where we are invaluable is making sure colours and textures are not lost - overlighting can do this, for example. We are also helpful in selecting cost effective and energy efficient solutions because any one project would have a number of possible solutions and our role is that we can create an innovative lighting solution and achieve the balance between function and aesthetics'.

Buildings such as the GPO, for example, require lighting to bring out their sculptural and architectural details, Lambert says. 'Early on [in this project] it was decided to use point sources to illuminate the architectural embellishment on the facade of the building. This has been a successful solution to providing illumination to the façade and retaining both the colour of the sandstone and the three dimensional modelling of the building elements. 'If we had used a cool coloured light source we would have washed out the warm sandstone colour of the façade and it would have a grey look about it. If we had taken the lighting off the building facade and used floodlighting to light back on to the building, the detailing would have been washed out along with a lot of the modelling so the overall result would have been quite flat'.

Lighting is equally as important in residential projects, Lambert says, although there are some differences between residential and commercial buildings. 'People are becoming more aware of lighting and are very interested in various lighting techniques. The same function requirements remain but residential clients are interested in being able to vary the moods within the home. Landscape lighting is an area which can add a lot to residential environments by providing a view to the outdoors at night. Or in the case of a house with a lot of glass or good views to the gardens, the exterior can add to the interior atmosphere at night by extending the boundaries. 'In contemporary houses you try and conceal the lighting as much as possible. It is very effective to provide light on a surface to indirectly illuminate a space rather than all the light sources being visible. But sometimes the lighting is a feature piece or there are houses I've worked on that follow a style in which case you try and select lighting from a particular time to invoke another era. In commercial lighting we are generally more focused on the environment during the day. Hospitality requires a lot of flexibility as the public areas can be in use 24 hours. Function rooms or ballrooms also cater to a wide range of activities, exhibits, dinners and so on, whereas in the residential environment the focus is usually on the evening hours'.

Regardless of whether a building is commercial or residential, it is important to take into account its surrounding environment, Lambert warns. 'You have to see what the ambient light levels around the building are, and that will depend if it is in the city or suburbs. If it is in a small commercial zone, for example, and you overlit a building it would really stand out from the ones around it'.

Practical issues such as avoiding glare with overlighting, or underlighting so people cannot see properly must also be carefully considered. 'It can be very tiring for people, especially in offices, to keep moving between bright and dark light as their eyes are constantly having to adjust,' Lambert explains.

More recently there has been a trend towards theatrical effects, particularly in public places, such as shopping centres which want a point of difference, she says. An entertainment precinct in Sydney's Macquarie Shopping Centre, which is adjacent to a cinema complex, is developing a sound and lighting experience. Sound effects ranging from aliens, aeroplanes and sounds of the bush will travel through the space depending on the time of day. There will also be an interactive 'Touch Tell' pedestal to allow customers to make a selection to change the lighting scene.

This trend means architects will have to take into account not only providing the space to maximise the theatrical effects, but also to provide space to house the equipment associated with the control of the sound and lighting effects, Lambert explains. 'The colours of the surfaces are also important so that there is a "stage" for the effects to work on. If the whole space is black you wouldn't get a whole lot of credit for lighting effects so this is where you work hand in hand with the architect on the colours of the spaces where you have theatrical lights that are going to be working around the floor.'

On the subject of costs, good lighting is not necessarily more expensive, Lambert argues. 'In some cases where we select cost effective and energy efficient products we can save money and also we put light where it is needed - we don't just put it in everywhere just to be safe. But if you're getting into special effects, then yes, there's an extra over, but this is such a developing technology - there are lots of different types of lamps and improvements are made all the time. If you look at the new generation compact fluorescents, they are really delivering a lot of light for sometimes half the energy, so there are areas where you can cut costs without cutting quality'.

Building Products News magazine goes out to architects and building designers in Australia. This article is the copyright of the publisher, Reed Business Information and appears here with their permission. For more information on the magazine, visit Reed's website at http://www.reedbusiness.com.au