Lighting in Design Q2 2019

I nternational N ews

The exciting connections between light, colour and well-being

If for any reason our dark environment is interrupted overnight, by, say, a five-minuteTwitter scroll at 2 am, the body shuts down its melatonin production for the night, even if we go back to sleep. A few nights of this and we can start to feel out of whack. The LRC has partnered with lighting manufactur- ers to test its findings in real-world environments where people are confined to dim-light situations, as in submarines, nursing homes, hospital wards, and the U.S. embassy in Riga, Latvia. Over the past three years, Figueiro has conducted a lighting study with multiple-myeloma cancer patients at Mount Sinai Hospital that has already generated clinically significant results.Though all of the subjects at Mount Sinai were enduring exhausting, painful stem cell transplant treat- ments, the patients exposed to the freestanding Acuity light fixture reported significantly less depression than patients without the light dosages: 42.1 percent (with light) to 68.4 percent. These kinds of results have motivated Figueiro to double down on efforts to educate designers and manufacturers about the potential impact they could have on human health. While most certifications ad- dress the energy efficiency of lighting fixtures, requir- ing dimmers or motion sensors, the WELL Building Standard has been developing a measurement of ‘melanopic lighting intensity' to encourage healthy circadian responses in work areas, educational envi- ronments, and homes.

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) is doubling down on efforts to educate designers and manufacturers about the potential impact light has on human health. Research scientist Mariana Figueiro prescribes light exposure the way a medical doctor might call for a round of high-powered antibiotics: in precise doses at specific times of day. To achieve optimal sleep and mood patterns, for instance, she advises going out into daylight for at least 30 minutes first thing in the morning. (She also prescribes dimming all light sources in the evening before finally shutting everything down overnight.) That’s the minimum protocol. If she were offered a little more control – and as director of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Lighting Research Center (LRC), she often is – Figueiro would have your retinas exposed to bright white light for a full two hours every morning. She believes that if lighting designers and architects prioritised this critical morning dosage, we’d all begin to feel a lot less off-kilter. “The light in the built environment during the day is far too low, too dim,” Figueiro says. Specimens col- lected from numerous LRC studies – many conducted at night – measured subjects’ melatonin levels after they’d been exposed to nine different wavelengths (colours) of light. Melatonin is the slow-down-and-rest chemical our bodies generate after our eyes register that it’s now past sunset. It’s a regulating hormone, keeping our circadian rhythm in sync with our time zone and, as a bonus, protecting us fromDNA damage.

At high tide, three synchronised lines of light activate in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. Lines (57° 59 ́N, 7° 16 ́W) by Finnish artists Pekka Niittyvirta andTimo Aho wrap around two structures and along the base of a moun- tain landscape. Everything below these lines of light will one day be underwater. Pekka Niittyvirta andTimo Aho Use quintessentially basic elements, lines and light, to remind us of two potential futures. A future where these structures are underwater; and, more optimistically, a future where we begin to take climate change seriously and attempt to reverse the symptoms we have inflicted upon the earth. Lines of light mark inevitable sea level rise Sharing a design evocative of one of cinema’s greatest scenes in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the DAL’s four spoke, 15.7-inch wide ring proposes more earthly functions within the home – a modern LED chandelier equipped with an integrated wireless speaker intended to “shower” those situated underneath its diameter in both light and sound. The DAL 2-piece design is an example of an efficient use of space; within its 2.3-inch wide cylindrical column lives a Bluetooth-equipped 10 W speaker with its own passive radiator, attached to an anodised aluminium unibody 15.7-inch wide ring equipped with an array of adjustable 15 W LED lights. The Napal DAL sound and lighting system

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LiD Q2 - 2019