Transcripts
1. Introduction: When it comes to a successful
interior design project, there's one crucial
element which could make or break
your project, which is the lighting. In this current class,
we're going to go through the lighting
fundamentals, which are a core concept within the interior design
practice and industry. As an engineer, I'm
project manager, I'm going to be
sharing with you my expertise in which I've utilized some of these principles as part of project transformation. That way, you have
a clear idea how to transform your own projects, taking them from being basic to something quite
extraordinary. Whether you're working
on your home renovation or a professional
interior design project, these lighting
fundamentals are going to be crucial for the
success of your project.
2. Your Project: Project for the class revolves around applying the
key lessons that we have learned in
this current class to your own application, whether you are doing home renovations or you're
trying to change a room, try to manipulate the light based on the lessons taught in this current class by incorporating various
layering options, by incorporating various
types of task lighting, and the list goes on. After you're done
with your project, you're going to be
sharing your before and after results images. That way, we have a clear
idea how you have managed to transform your current space
from one stage to another, and you're going to be
sharing it for feedback.
3. The Role of Lighting In Interior Design: Now, the first thing we
need to understand when it comes to interior design, there are core elements
which complement each other. You cannot focus on one of them alone and forget about the rest. For example, you notice
that some individuals, they focus on
furniture, you know, decoration part, getting the right colors, and
that's mainly it. But there are elements which
complement each other. Some of them, you see
them, and some of them, you have no idea
that they exist, and it requires an
experienced eye to see them. And one of them is lighting. When you're dealing
with interior design, lighting could make or
break your project. Think about it this way.
If you walk into a space, and it's completely can you see the design?
Of course not. And if it's fully bright, Are you able to see
the design properly? Of course not. It's going to be painful to actually
look at the design. This leads us to a
very important part, which is the importance
of lighting. Let's go through the briefing together and to
develop the awareness of the various aspects that
light has an impact on, which affects the
entire design process. Lighting is a critical
element in interior design. As it plays a significant role in creating the desired mood, that's one, the ambience, that's two, and the
functionality of the space. If you focus on mood and ambience, they
could be interchanged. If you'd like to set a certain vibe to a
place, energetic, cozy, relaxed, calm, lighting
can help you do this, functionality of the space. You could actually
dictate how to use the space by
integrating lighting. For example, if you
have an office, if it's in a dark room, how would you use the office? Obviously, you can't. You
need some lighting to do so. So these are important elements
of lighting as a whole. So when it comes to utilizing
light, usually individuals, designers, professionals,
they use lighting to set the mood and the
ambience of the space. What are they trying to achieve? Something energetic, something
bubbly, something calm. Lighting could help us do
so. And not just that. When it comes to lighting, we could use it to highlight
specific design features. Take a look at the image and the representation
over here. You could have a piece of art
you could have an ornament, a vase or vase. You could have some
design features that you have like a
fountain, a fireplace. You could use light
to shed focus on, and you tend to find this in museums, especially
above paintings. Step back for a second and
take a look at the paintings. You'll notice they have
spotlights to actually shed attention on
these features. In addition to creating
visual interest, when you properly use light, you have the ability to tinker
between shadows and light. That way, you're able to grab the attention of the individuals
dealing with the space, which is part of creating
visual interest, which is a core practice
within interior design. And finally, improving
energy efficiency. Nowadays, the trend is
towards sustainable design. So if you have a clear idea how to use light to
achieve various goals, in addition to green design, sustainable designs, you will be able to utilize light in
an effective fashion. That way, you're saving
on the electricity bills. You're eco friendly. Your design is
actually environment friendly in a way
which is appealing to current users in the market rather than using
light here and there and having no idea how it
affects the environment or just simply over using
it to cover all grounds, which often leads to having
no idea what you're doing. This is unfortunately something. It's a realistic case. So when you are using
light, properly, you have a clear idea
how to set the mood, how to highlight features, how to create visual interest, how to improve energy
efficiency for green design, specifically interior
design could consume a lot of resources
in addition to lighting, which has a negative impact on the environment as a whole. So if you have the ability
to utilize lighting, understand its role better, how it affects the
entire design process. You are able to develop
this awareness that lighting is a very
crucial component within interior design. It's not just simply about
visibility where you flick the light on and flick
it off and that's mainly it. On the contrary, it affects almost every single element
of the design process from energy utilization to actual visual appeal
and representation.
4. Lighting Categories: So we have developed
the awareness of the importance of light within
interior design process, and now we are ready to dive
into the technical aspects, which is the categorization
of lighting. When we're dealing with light
within interior design, it's broken down to two
different categories. We got the artificial light, which is literally the man made light. Think about a bulb. If you walk into a space,
you're utilizing bulbs, O fixtures would have
lighting connections to them to eject or emit
light. That's it. This is artificial lighting, which is man made. However, you do have on the
other end of the spectrum, you got the natural light. The natural light
is the sunlight or indirectly the moonlight,
for example. Why? Because this is part of nature. So it's natural by default. You have no influence on it, including the light
from the stars, by the way, which is quite dim, but any element which falls
under nature, sun, moon, stars, and it emits light, it's considered to be a
natural source of light. On the other hand
of the spectrum, you have the
artificial lighting, which is completely man made. Any source of light that
you walk into or utilize or address directly or indirectly used by man
or created by man, means it's an artificial source. So when it comes to
interior design, we have two different
categories. We got the natural light, we got the artificial light. And now we're going
to be diving into every single one of
them and how it fits within the umbrella
of interior design because every single one
of them has its own usage, and it's used
strategically to enhance certain design appeal within the whole project that
you're dealing with, whether you could combine natural and artificial lighting, different elements or types
within artificial lighting, such that they address
certain key categories. We're going to dive into
all of these with details. So we are going through
one step at a time. We've understood the importance of lighting within
interior design. Now we dove into the
two main categories, natural lighting and
artificial lighting. Now we are ready to actually
explore every single one of them and how it fits within the umbrella
of interior design.
5. Natural Lighting as part of Interior Design: And welcome back. And
the basic form of light, which is the natural lighting. If we define natural lighting, which is by definition,
any source, which is a source
of illumination provided by sunlight,
you could add the moon, you could add the stars, entering a space
through windows, skylights, or other openings. Take a look at the
image over here. You got very large
windows which allow the entrance of
the sunlight into the space to provide
the illumination. Keeping in mind light travels
in straight lines only. Light does not bend,
it does not twist, it's simply a straight
line. Keep that in mind. Why is this important? If we have a clear idea, how to utilize natural lighting in the design
process is going to save us a lot of
money in terms of using artificial lighting
and the electricity bills. At the same time, we as humans, we are wired to
engage with nature. Natural lighting tends to
affect us in multiple ways. For example, first of
all, health benefits. Exposure to natural
light has a lot of health benefits such
as mood enhancement, increases the energy level, and not to mention, obviously, the precious vitamin D. As
you get exposure to sunlight, you are getting exposure to
vitamin D sources, right? Is directly affecting
your health in general. So natural lighting is a
source of health benefits. It has a great aesthetic
appeal. What does that mean? It brings a sense of warmth, freshness, and depth
to interior spaces. Whenever you create rooms and you're able to eject
natural lighting, sunlight into the rooms, most probably, you have
experienced this by yourself. When you walk into the space
and it's quite shiny and bright and flooded
with natural light, how does that make you feel? Obviously, you feel warmth,
freshness and energetic. Why? Because you're
getting exposed to these natural elements
and not just that, energy efficiency,
like I mentioned, when you are using
natural light, by default, you're cutting
down the electricity cost. You're not going to
be spending a lot of money on trying to
light up the space. So the strategic use
of windows, ceilings, any sort of lighting which allows you to utilize
natural light by proper placements and strategic
placements will give you the ability to utilize light
to save up on the energy, increase the aesthetics appeal, and to have a direct
health benefit. By the way, psychologically, natural light directly
affects your mood. As you deal with color theory, you would understand the impact
of color, and guess what? Light is the blend of
all of these colors. It's very important
to understand the importance of
natural lighting. So when we are
getting strategic and intentional by
using natural light as part of the interior
design process, we have the ability to reduce the artificial lighting
during the daylight hours, which leads by default to significant energy savings at the same time increases
the aesthetic appeal. You have the ability to switch between natural light
and artificial light, at the same time, having a
direct impact on your health. This is how powerful
natural light. Often you tend to find designers working on projects when they
are designing the concept, setting up the project as
part of the mood boards, the conceptual design, often natural lighting
is overlooked. The whole focus goes on
to spotlights, lights, chandeliers, all of these
artificial sources of light as part of
improving the aesthetics. But health benefits,
energy efficiencies, all of these are left
behind for some reason. But with a professional
interior designer, the main attention goes
directly to natural lighting, how to utilize it
in the best way possible to enhance
the appeal of the space and to
enhance the experience of the users, whether
psychologically, aesthetically or health wise, you are literally affecting the vitamin D levels
of your bodies, enhancing the serotonin levels due to exposure to sunlight. All of these are
health benefits which extend beyond the current
application of the course, but it's important for
you to understand them. So the more exposure you have to natural light
within the space, think about it about you, you as the individual
using the space, you are going to have a great experience
within the space. Health wise,
aesthetically you're going to enjoy the space wise, it adds some sort
of dynamic appeal. Daytime you enjoy the light, nighttime you switch to
artificial lighting rather than creating this disconnect
between nature and the space, which is often the case in
many modern applications, where the whole focus is
on creating a space and using as much lighting
artificial lighting as possible, which defeats the purpose. So the sequence
should go as follows. You have a design,
you have a concept, and you are being
mindful and aware how to use natural lighting
to enhance the space, and then you go to
artificial lighting, not the other way around. Artificial lighting,
then natural lighting. That will actually increase
the cost of your design. At the same time will diminish the experience that individuals have with the space
that you're designing.
6. Natural Lighting Interior Design Tips: Come back. Now on
this current lesson, I got for you some important
natural lighting design tips that you need to be equi. First of all, we got
design considerations. You're not building
the project yet. You are at the conceptual stage, at the design stage, at the mood board stage, at the vision stage. At this stage, this is
where you need to be mindful about the usage
of natural lighting. And at that stage,
what you need to consider is the orientation
of the windows. These are the factors
we need to take into account to make use
of the lighting. We need to keep it at
the back of our minds. So we need to consider
what is the direction of the window always always look at the direction of the sunrise and the sunset and try
to allocate the wind strategically in those
directions to maximize the input of the rays of
the sun within the space. If you consider the following
space as an example, imagine the sun rises from here. Roughly. But obviously, if we place the windows
in this direction, we're going to make the
best use of the sunlight. However, if the sun rises from
here, what do you notice, having windows in this direction is pointless because
you're just simply exposing the environment without actually allowing sunlight
to be entering the space. So this is a very basic mistake that you find many
designers they tend to do. They have no idea what is the direction of the
sunrise and the sunset. And when you're able
to identify those, this is where it
gets strategic with the placement of the windows
and the ceiling lights. Light ceiling, whatever it
is that you're going to be using to allow the light
to enter the space, right? Sky's the limit. You got windows, you got
openings in the ceilings, you got coves, whatever approach that
you would like to use, sky's the limit, but
the idea is the same. Make sure that you
are aware about the direction of the
sunrise and the sunset. So once you've established this, you have a clear
idea where to place your windows saving you
cost, saving you effort. What is the size that
you're trying to achieve? Are you trying to allow
maximum exposure to natural light or just
simply a small amount of light to go into the space? Then the placement
of the openings, any openings in the walls, which are considered
to be a natural flow of light from the
outdoors to indoors. And then the use of light shaping elements
like shades or curtains. This is very
strategic and smart. When you are creating a space which is
exposed to sunlight, you should have the
ability to control it, and how would you do so
obviously by having curtains? So when you have curtains, you have the ability to allow certain amounts of
light to go into the space or to completely block it and switch to
artificial lighting. See how powerful this is. You haven't designed
that project yet, but you're being considerate
about all of these things, which will have a great
impact on the final result, which leads us to the
daylighting strategies. What does the word
daylighting strategies mean? It means day lighting,
by definition, refers to the intentional use of natural light to illuminate
interior spaces. So you see how
important this is. It has its own terminology, daylight where you are being intention about the placements
of the windows, the sizes, the locations, the curtains,
the size of the curtains, the locations, the mechanism, are they automatic or manual. All of these are considered to be day lighting strategies, which leads us to
the final part. By default, once you
apply all of the above, you'll be landing at a sustainable design where
you include natural lighting, by default, which aligns with sustainable
design principles. And as a pro tip, sometimes
within certain jurisdictions, you could have the greatest
interior design project. But if it doesn't fulfill certain sustainability
requirements, it will be rejected. You won't get permits, you're not able to proceed further. That will create issues
with your clients, which is costly and
waste a lot of time. So by default, when you are being mindful at
the design stage, you have a clear idea and intentional usage of
natural lighting, then you set up the
orientation of the space. You have a clear idea. Where is the sunrise? Where
is the sunset? Determine the sizes and the directions of the
windows, the doors, any features which allow
light into the space, then transition to controlling the light by using curtains, either manual or automatic. And by default, once you follow these design
considerations, you are using the element
of natural lighting to create a sustainable
design, by default, automatically checking this off the list without diving
into the issues later on, which could actually ruin
your entire project.
7. Artificial Lighting as part of Interior Design: And welcome back. On the
other hand of the spectrum, we're going to be having
the artificial lighting. Artificial lighting
by definition is when we use an electric
source of light. So by definition,
artificial lighting refers to the electric
light sources used to illuminate interior spaces when natural light is
insufficient or unavailable. So if you have no ability to utilize natural
light or there's no access to get
natural light into the space for whatever that you're doing
within the space, you need a source of light, which is the
artificial lighting, and the best example
is a light bulb. You cannot have
sunlight all the time. Obviously, within the nighttime, in order to have visibility
within the space, you're going to be using
basic bulbs in order to get electricity to generate
light in that case. However, artificial lighting has certain uses that we need to keep in mind as part
of interior design, and it gives us the flexibility which natural light
does not provide us. Simply put, you got certain
number of hours for daylight and certain
number of hours where there's no daylight within
the day. So what do you do? You need to find an alternative, and this is where we have
a lighting solution, which is the
artificial lighting. So it provides us
with the ability to enhance visibility at
any time of the day. The artificial lighting
is going to be used when we do not have the
natural light. When the natural
light is completely outside of the availability, outside of the image,
you cannot use it. We need an alternative, which
is the artificial lighting. So that's why it's important to think about it in sequence. You start off with
the natural light, use as much as possible and then transition to the
artificial lighting, which leads us to functionality. When we are dealing with
artificial lighting, it's very important to
connect it to functions. Cooking, for example, at certain places, you
might need lighting. Working in an office,
you need lighting, reading, you need lighting, certain areas or rooms
within the space that you have without access
to natural lighting, you're going to be using
artificial lighting. So it gives us the
ability to provide adequate illumination for
specific tasks and activities. For example, in the kitchen, if you have no windows and you're planning
on cooking at night, for example, how
would you do so? Obviously, you're not going
to be cooking in the dark. So you need a functionality
based lighting, which is for cooking purposes, you might have a small
chandelier or spotlights, which will help
illuminate the space artificially in order
to get the job done, which leads us to a
very important element when it comes to
artificial lighting, the element of control. Within natural lighting, just simply if you
have curtains, you close the curtains or you open the curtains partially. But with artificial lighting, you have more control
compared to natural lighting. So you have the ability to
use switches on and off. Dimmers, small knobs,
you're able to really controls the amount of light as much as possible by
rotating a small knob. Timers, you can use
smart applications in combination with sensors to actually set up timers
where the light goes on, goes off, even changing the colors of the light
within the space, the temperature, and the
intensity of the light, all of these parameters
could be controlled. However, with natural light, unfortunately, you
cannot do this. You get sunlight and it just
simply gets weaker, weaker, weaker as the day passes
by all the way till it's the evening time
and the sunlight phases out, and
that's mainly it. But for more control, you need artificial lighting. So that's why it's
important to understand the key strengths and
weaknesses for both sources. When it comes to successful
interior design projects, you can't just simply
base your design only on natural light
or artificial light. A powerful designer will have the ability to combine both. Such that is using
the best out of the natural lighting
and using the best out of artificial lighting, which leads us to
understanding what are the different types of artificial lighting
that we could use. For natural lighting is
very straightforward. You got the sunlight
mainly, and secondly, you got the moonlight and
the light from the stars, which is very weak and very
rare in terms of usage. But these are natural sources. However, we artificial lighting, we do have different
classifications for lighting, which is very important
to be equipped with. That way, when you're
designing for a project, if you're dealing
with a certain space, a certain function,
a certain aspect, you have the ability
to simply pick up the right artificial
lighting category and type for that specific case.
8. Types of Artificial Lighting: Now let's consider
the various types of artificial lighting. Kicking things off,
we have what we call as the ambient light. Ambient lighting is
the general lighting for overall illumination, the ceiling
chandeliers, the bulbs. When you walk into a room, you flick the switch on or off. That's an ambient lighting. You do have a great
representation over here. Take a look at the images. You got skylights,
you got spotlights, you get different sources
of ambient lightings. The whole purpose is to
illuminate the space. Obviously, you could
use different colors for the lighting,
different controls, but the purpose of an
ambient light is to provide adequate lighting for a space to ensure visibility and
navigation for the space. Then we have what we call
as the task lighting. This is task oriented. It focuses on specific
actions that you're doing. For example, if you are
reading or working, you can use a desk lamp. This is task based lighting. Or if you are cooking, you can take a look
at the light from the ceiling over
here to illuminate the kitchen island
in order for you to gain visibility for
that specific task. So we have the ambient lighting, which is the overall
lighting within the space. Then we go specific
task based lighting and it's accessories that
go hand in hand with it in order for you to gain specific light for
a specific task. So you have the
ability to pick up a specific source of light
for a specific task. That's what we call
task lighting. And finally, we have
the axon lighting. Which is for highlighting
key design features. Think about it as the
aesthetics of lighting. For example, if you
take a look at both of these representations,
specifically this one, if you have certain accessories that you would like
to demonstrate, you could use the
accent lighting, like a spotlight
in a small shelf, or you get a bookcase, or you get souvenirs. Take a look at the
wall art over here. You're using lighting to demonstrate the art
that you have even to highlight that there's a TV over here or there's
a mirror over here. So accent lighting
is any source of light that's focusing
on a certain feature. So it's like directing attention to the design element
within the space, whether it's a pool or a lighting or a plant that
you have placed somewhere, wall art, you get yourself some certain
accessories, trophies. And the best example
is a museum. They display the art, and they put in the
accent lighting to shed some light on it. So these are the three
different main types of artificial lighting. So within a design an
interior design project, you have the natural lighting, then you got the
artificial lighting where you dive into
ambient lights, task lights, and accent lights. And every single one of
them obviously could be layered on the other. That's the power of light. You have the ability
just simply to stick to one source of artificial
lighting on the contrary. If you take a look at
the image over here, you have the ambient lights. Then you got the lamps over
here for reading as well, which are good for
task lighting. If you take a look at
the image over here, you got yourself
some accent lighting to showcase the wall art. So you layer the
lighting sources. That way, you're able to achieve the vision that
you have from the space.
9. Lighting Design Fundamentals: So we've learned about
the basic elements of lighting, artificial natural, the sources of natural lighting, the sources of
artificial lighting, and their impact on the
design process as a whole. But as you go about actually designing the lighting
for a project, there are key fundamentals that you need to
be equipped with. So when you are dealing with the light element as
part of interior design, there are essential
principles and concepts that will guide the
effective process, the effective design process throughout the entire design of lighting interior spaces to ensure that you have
thoughtful designs. Clearly, when you are
creating the vision board, you are coming up with the
vision of the project, it's very important to have
these fundamentals as part of your tools box because
once you get to the incorporation of lighting
as part of the project, you need to tick them off. First of all, we need
to have a clear idea about the purpose and the
function of the lighting. Are we going to be
using natural light, artificial light in combination? What are we trying to
achieve from the space? Is it something for gatherings,
for social gatherings, events, or is something
more calm for relaxing? We need to understand the
purpose of the space. And then you take it one level further by figuring out what sources of lighting will help
me achieve that purpose, which leads you to
layers of lighting. So you have a clear idea about the purpose and the function, then you dive into the
layers of the lighting by incorporating what
we have talked about in terms of natural
and artificial. If you have a clear idea about the tasks that are going to
be taking place in the space, such as cooking, reading, watching TV, whatever it is. So you're going to incorporate
artificial task lighting. You need to set a certain
vibe for the space. You can use natural lighting and ambient lighting to set up a
certain vibe for the space. Then you have certain features
like a museum or trophies, you're going to add
accent lighting. So by using the various
sources of light, both natural and artificial, you have the ability to achieve
the purpose and function, and you have the ability
to layer the lighting. You can combine accent,
task, ambient, natural. So within certain
times of the day, you have natural lighting fully. As the sun goes out, you have the ambient lighting
in certain rooms. You got task lighting
in other rooms. You get accent lighting in other rooms as well
or in combination. So the act of combining different sources of light
is called layering of light, which leads us to very important part the
light distribution. When you are selecting
the light sources, think about it like
water. It floods. So if you have a very
weak source of light, you're not going
to have complete distribution to cover the space. So this is slightly
more advanced. There are technical calculations
that need to be done, but it's very important
to understand that it's part of
the fundamentals. When you are selecting a
light bulb, for example, let's say 60 kilowatts or
60 watts or 100 watts, it's way different than having a source which is 60 kilowatt, for example, as extreme
as that sounds. Or if you have a ten watt
bulb and then you go for a 60 watt bulb and
then 100 watts bulb, every single one of them
has more power in it, so it has more ability
to be distributed. So when you have high ceilings, you need to keep in mind the
distribution of the light. You could have the
perfect color. You could have the perfect
temperature of light, which we're going to
be seeing right now. But it's not being spread
properly within the space. So distribution is very
powerful and color temperature. What do you mean by
color temperature? When you take a look
at light, simply put, how warm or how cool do
you perceive it to be? If you have white light, it's perceived as cold. If you have yellow
light intense yellow, it's perceived as warm. Here's a pro
technicality you need to keep in mind as you
navigate color temperature. Now, color temperature
is measured in kelvins, which is in
temperature, basically, like Celsius, you get Kelvin. It's a unit of measurement
for temperature, which determines the
perceived warmth or coolness. It's a perception. When you take a look
at something that looks icy, it feels cold, something like flames,
which is yellow, red, it feels hot, perceived as now, warmer color temperatures,
for example, 2,700 kelvins, all the
way to 3,000 kelvins, they create a cozy atmosphere. While cooler color temperatures, 4,000 to 6,500 kelvins, they produce a crisp
and bright ambience. So this is part of
the purpose layering, distribution, and temperature. It has a direct impact, so you understand the power
of these fundamentals. So when you are selecting
a source of light whether for task lighting
or an ambient lighting, you take into account
the layers of the lighting layers of the
lighting within the space, then you transition
to the distribution. Are the sources of
the lights strong enough 100 watts, 60 watts. Then you go higher and
higher and higher. But obviously for
lighting sources, like I mentioned, there
are certain limits. So always keep that in mind, which leads us to
the temperature. So you have the
distribution in check, the layers in check, the
purpose and function in check. What is the vibe that
you would like to get, which is often dictated
by the color temperature. If you need something which
looks warm and relaxed, then you're going to go for
the warm temperatures which are achieved by the
warm color temperature, which is achieved by
something light source with 2,700 kelvins all the
way to 3,000 kelvins. You can just simply take
a look at the bulb specs, the box that you from the back, you're able to see basically
all of those details. Now, if you need something which is more crisp and bright, like close to sunlight, go for the 4,000
Kelvins to 6,500, which is basically
whiter in color. So you see how all of these
things they fit together. You got the color temperature
of the light source, the distribution to
cover as much area. Then you have the
layers of the lighting, combining natural artificial and the various sub
types of artificial. All of them combined together, they are used to fulfill the purpose and the
function of the space, which is a crucial part of the lighting design
fundamentals which will ensure the success of your interior design
project as a whole.
10. Wrapping Up: So what do you think? I truly hope that you found
the class helpful. If it helped you
understand the importance of lighting as part
of interior design, then it's a job well done. So I'm looking
forward to receiving your feedback on this
current class and make sure that you follow
my profile for the latest releases and updates, and I'll see you
in the next class.
Engr. Hussein Attié, Entrepreneur I Engineer I Educator
