The light in our lives: Lighting can make or break a design vision
It is easy to return from time to time, to the subject of Light, because the discussion — like its subject — is ever changing, shifting, and intriguing. Light and lighting can make or break an intended design vision, control color impressions and drive the entire mood of an environment.
Light is perhaps the most versatile of interior design elements, offering every twist from artificial whimsy to the serious manipulation of natural light and how it plays on your interiors. It can be invited in, restricted to rhythms of admission or entirely excluded.
Your professional interior design team has intensely studied light and its incredible impacts on design choices and decisions. When an environment is being designed from the ground up, the important considerations of how light will be captured, introduced and controlled must be addressed in all aspects of the design and construction, in the beginning.
One good argument for assembling all members of a project team at the front end — regardless of when they will interface — involves the issue of Light. How will the building environment orient as it relates to natural light, the positions of sunlight throughout the daylight hours, the available natural views — and the supplemental use of artificial light during both day and night hours?
How and where will windows be oriented relative to future development of the region, and the impacts of presumed development on the aesthetics of the project? Can flexibility be “built into” the initial construction that would allow the removal or addition of windows in the future, as the exterior of the region may change?
Early planning and considerations for the use and control of light and lighting is critical to your project! Flexibility in the use of artificial lighting is light years away from even two decades ago (Pun intended…). Not only have the options expanded; electrical disciplines now exist that involve efficiency standards, restrictions and compliances. For your design team, such conditions merely present more creative opportunities for the use and manipulation of Light in your project design.
Just as LED lighting has revolutionized many lighting applications, now entire commercial facilities and many residences are utilizing LED. In new construction or by retrofitting, an entire advanced era in lighting options has come into its own. Your cooperative interior design team (design, construction, electrical) will work with you for balanced use of any and all lighting options.
Together, you and your design team experts can explore where Light and lighting modifications may be possible in your existing environment. From restructuring window placement for better use of natural light (or improving aesthetics), to changing the mode of your lighting, there are probably many possibilities.
The play of Light on color can bring surprising results! The kind of light, the colors themselves, and the textures on which the color appears — all affect the outcome. When you have chosen a specific color, you will want it to remain the color you selected.
Your expert team can guide the decisions you make that will support your choices. The power of Light in your environment is present in all aspects!