Services
Lighting design
Lighting design is a crucial part of spatial design and architecture. It focuses on creating lighting that works both for practical applications and creates the desired atmosphere. With the right lighting, the chosen materials and architectural details can be highlighted and elevated to their full potential.
Full lighting design
Full lighting design includes 7-10 different documents, and the designer will be with you from the start till the space is finished. The design package includes lighting concepts, drawings, fitting selections, calculations, and all necessary technical schedules for successful implementation of the desired result. For examples and further information on the lighting design documentation, please see our “lighting design documentation” brochure.
A full lighting design always includes one revision of each document type as needed and the designer can be reached via email and by phone to answer any questions that might arise on site, either from the client, electrician, or the builder.
A full lighting design package includes an initial meeting, a concept meeting and one site visit. Further meetings are always available by the hourly rate.
Partial lighting design
Some projects are not in need of a full lighting design package, in which case a lighter version of it can be constructed. The partial lighting design focuses either on the conceptual thinking and/or technical specifications. As an example, if an electrical engineer is involved in the project, a lot of the documentation provided in the full lighting design can overlap with their responsibilities. In this case, a set of documents to be issued will be separately agreed on with the client, with further detailing and information to be produced by other professionals in the design team.
It should be noted, that sometimes the full lighting design package will in the end be more comprehensive and cheaper than partial design, especially if there are a lot of adjustments to the building and design throughout the project.
Light level calculations with specification
Light level calculations are a set of technical calculations produced in Dialux Evo software, using a 3D model of the space and light fitting files. By setting up the building, “installing” the specified light fittings in their preferred locations and using the surface reflectance as would be, we can calculate the effectiveness of the lighting and assess, if there will be enough to cater for the required task within the space.
Another part of the lighting calculations is emergency lighting in public spaces, to ensure that there is enough light available in the escape routes and anti-panic areas, to make exiting the building as safe as possible if the power goes down and evacuation is needed. A successful emergency lighting reduces panic and thus speeds up the evacuation.
Light level measurements
In some cases, it is necessary to produce a report and analysis on the already existing lighting system. This will involve a site visit to measure existing lighting conditions with a light level meter, possibly in several different points of the day, depending on the purpose of the report. The report will include a set of measured-on-site information with a lighting plan of the existing fittings. A further analysis on the suitability of the lighting will be provided, with improvement suggestions if necessary.
Education
We offer a “Basics of Lighting” and “Basics of lighting control” seminars and education days for companies and student groups in lighting related fields. We are also always up for creating a unique set of educational materials for more focused topics.
Basics of Lighting includes all you need to understand why lighting is important and how to understand and design it. It is a great day’s worth of information for interior designers, interior architects, and architects. All of the principles of lighting will be covered through hands-on experiments so that you can visibly see the difference between things like colour rendering index and beam angle to the height.
Basics of lighting control is a 2h seminar on the different lighting control protocols that are widely used in buildings, what their differences are and how to decide which one to use in a project.
Lighting control
We have experience in designing with several lighting control protocols in mind, be it DALI, Casambi or DMX, and will happily help with the decision on what to choose to your space.
Karoliina has completed the comprehensive Casambi-training back in 2017 and now again in 2024 and is thus ready to help with the programming of Casambi projects.
And as a lot of our projects are theatres and auditoriums, among other entertainment spaces, is DMX very common in our day-to-day design process.
When should I get in touch with a lighting designer?
Lighting design ideally starts at the design stage of the building, once most of the architectural design has been done, but the building site has not started yet. This gives the flexibility needed to use light as a source of aesthetics by using structural elements as part of the lighting design. This also allows for more time in terms of design concept and the discussions following that.
In a new build, the latest to make any major changes to lighting would be before first fix, after this the lighting positions are usually set and it will cost you more in amendments on site.
In renovation projects, as soon as possible is a good, preferably before anything is taken down, so that we can see what was there before and get an idea of the dimensions of the space.