An Introduction to Interior Lighting Design

J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A., Fellow ASCE, Fellow AEI

Course Outline

1.  Introduction
2.  Planning and Programming 
3.  General Design Guidelines
4.  Functional Area Guidelines
5.  Illustrative Diagrams

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Learn how visibility describes size, brightness, and contrast of a particular activity and affects the lighting required to view that activity;
• Learn about way-finding and the role of lighting in providing visual guidance, signage illumination, and more subtle aids such as continuity and hierarchy of lighting equipment that reinforces areas of similar use;
• Learn how the effective use of indirect light minimizes the negative effects of direct glare;
• Learn how direct glare can be minimized with careful equipment selection and placement, and by indirectly lighting interior walls and ceiling;
• Learn about illuminance and appropriate lighting levels for different surfaces and tasks;
• Learn the importance of lighting level and illuminance uniformity where sustained tasks are performed, and how to prevent “spotty” lighting, especially in interior areas where people are working and exterior areas where safety and security are concerns;
• Learn about the three different types of visual responses: photopic, scotopic and mesopic;
• Learn about lumen effectiveness multipliers that can be used to account for the improved visibility provided by white light compared, for example, to high pressure sodium lighting;
• Learn about luminaire, lamp and lighting control recommendations for individual and open offices; and
• Learn about luminaire, lamp and lighting control recommendations for other office building spaces such as conference rooms, lobbies and corridors. 

Intended Audience

This course is intended for all of the engineers, architects and construction professionals who are members of the building design and construction team who are looking for and introduction to lighting design for the interior of buildings.

Benefit for Attendee

Building designers and construction professionals will be introduced to the fundamentals of lighting design for building interiors, with particular emphasis on office building interiors.

Course Introduction

This is an introduction to recommendations and design approaches for lighting design of building interiors.

About Course Author

Paul Guyer is a registered mechanical engineer, civil engineer, fire protection engineer and architect with over 35 years experience in the design of buildings and related infrastructure.  For an additional 9 years he was a senior-level advisor to the California Legislature on infrastructure and capital outlay issues.  He has designed and supervised the design of hundreds of construction projects requiring the preparation of detailed working drawings and specifications for federal, state and local public agencies and private companies.  He is a graduate of Stanford University and has held numerous national, state and local positions with the American Society of Civil Engineers and National Society of Professional Engineers.

Course Content

The course content is contained in the following PDF file:

An Introduction to Interior Lighting Design

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

 

Course Summary

This course will give you basic guidance in interior building lighting design.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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