Week 9 (b)

Lighting has a big impact on the rooms in your house or the work spaces in your office. A beautiful room can look bad because of bad lighting and an ugly space can get a much better look thanks to quality lighting.

“Lighting plays such an integral part in collaborative spaces,” observes Jennifer Woofter, president of Strategic Sustainability Consulting.

Good lighting in building can bring positive effects that may be of importance to quality of life and which can affect comfort, productivity, and even human health. While, poor lighting can increase anxiety and may lead to trip and fall accidents if people cannot make sense of what is ahead of them. Besides, lighting in is reported to consume as much as 21% of the total energy use in buildings (Levine et al., 2007), and to account for about 17.5% of global electricity use (Pike Research, 2010).

Therefore, we must not underestimate its value and take the time to have an eye for energy efficiency in a lighting plan.

LIGHTING CONSIDERATIONS:

Light distribution
Lighting quality and quantity
Lighting on people and object
Space and workplace considerations

THREE MAIN TYPES OF LIGHTING

1. Ambient Lighting (General Lighting)

Ambient lighting provides an area with overall illumination which the light radiates a comfortable level of brightness that blankets your space just enough for you to function without causing a harsh glare. While ambient light is meant to get you safely from point A-to-B, it is not ideal for working closely with things or to highlight things around your space. It is often provided by traditional pendant type fixtures, down lights, chandeliers, ceiling or wall mounted fixtures.

2.Task Lighting

Task lighting helps you perform specific tasks, such as reading, preparing and cooking food, doing homework, working on hobbies and playing games. Task lighting helps naturally stimulate your brain. Thus, creating higher quality result as it will help you see more details as you work. It can be provided by recessed and track lighting, pendant lighting and under cabinet lighting, as well as by portable floor and desk lamps.

3.Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is one of the types of lighting that creates a very sophisticated atmosphere. Accent lighting adds drama to a room by creating visual interest. This lighting is used a lot for museums, historical buildings and art shows. To be effective, accent lighting requires as least three times as much light on the focal point as the general lighting surrounding it. It is usually provided by recessed and track lighting or wall-mounted picture lights.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LIGHTS OR LAMPS IN A LIGHTING SYSTEM

The different types of lights or lamps include the following:

Types of lamps

1. Incandescent Lamps

· available in a broad range of sizes and voltages

· glows and produces heat when electricity passes through the tungsten filament present inside the bulb

· filament of this bulb is placed either in a mixture of nitrogen gas or in a vacuum

2. Compact Fluorescent Lamps

· contains mercury, which cause difficulties to its disposal

· designed to replace an Incandescent lamp as less power is used, produce same amount of light and have long lifespan

3. Halogen lamps

· consists of a tungsten filament

· sealed with a compact transparent envelop and filled with an inert gas and small

amount of halogen (bromine or iodine)

· smaller than the conventional lamps

4. Metal Halide Lamps

· consist of a discharge tube or arc tube within a bulb

· tube can be made from either ceramic or quartz and contains mercury, MH salts and a starting gas

· commonly used in halls, traffic lights, on stages and in outdoor lighting systems for commercial purposes

5. Fluorescent Tube

· a gas discharge tube that uses a fluorescence to produce visible light

· can be used in many places around a home, but cannot be used with dimmers

· do not have good colour representation ability

6. High Intensity Discharge Lamps

· specially designed with inner glass tubes that include tungsten electrodes with electrical arc

· inner glass tube is filled with both metals and gas

· normally used when high levels of light are required over large areas which include large public areas, pathways, roadways and parking lots

7. Light Emitting Diode

· electrical component that emits light through the movement of electrons in a semiconductor device

· lacks a filament, uses less power and has a long lifespan

· usually assembled into a light bulb to be used as a LED lighting system

8. Neon Lamps

· gas-discharge lamp that contains gas at low pressure

· assembled by mounting two electrodes within a small glass envelop

· standard brightness bulbs are filled with an argon or neon gas mixture

· high-brightness lamps are filled with a pure neon gas

9. Low Pressure Sodium Lamps

· the first sodium lamp which has the maximum efficiency than all the other lighting systems

· operate much like a fluorescent lamp

· a brief heat up period for the lamp to reach full brightness

GROUP CASE BUILDING
In Dewan Sultan Iskandar, we found four type of lighting fixtures that they use which are chandelier lamp, metal halide lamp, spotlight and fluorescent light fixture.

Chandelier lamp used at the main entrance of the hall is to add style and visual appeal without making the hall more cramped. Besides, chandelier lamp can uplift the style and dynamics of the hall.

Metal halide lamp used in the main hall. The lamp power is from 30 to 2000W and the light output up to 180,000 Lumens.

Spotlight is used at the stage. It has the ability to focus on particular object or person. Aside from that, it can contract or expand the brightness or beam which can help in making the actors carry out their characters more effectively.

Fluorescent light fixture used in almost all offices and toilets as fluorescent light has better light diffusion and distribution.