Back to Home
High Performance Lighting Guide

Principles

Bathroom lighting, like kitchen lighting, puts great emphasis on specific task areas. Because bathrooms are completed with fixtures and cabinetry during initial construction, it is practical to install lighting that is appropriate for the task areas. The most demanding area for lighting is at the vanity mirror. Here the ideal light illuminates the face from the sides as well as from above, reducing shadowing effects. The tub, shower, and commode areas all need adequate light as well. This may be provided by overall ambient lighting in open plan bathrooms or may require individual fixtures where these areas are partitioned off.

High performance lighting in the bathroom. Click for a larger image.

Small, open plan bathrooms and powder rooms can often be effectively illuminated from a single good quality fixture at the vanity. Larger bathrooms generally require fixtures in addition to those at the vanity.

Most of the following designs include vanity lighting above and beside the mirror. Representative vanity fixtures, using CFLs are shown in Specification for Fixtures but this choice must often be guided by aesthetic considerations.

The direct lighting designs below provide simple, efficient direct illumination. They accomplish this, however, at the expense of considerable glare. These fixtures flood the room with light in all directions.

The recessed lighting design, using recessed downlights with clear reflectors, provides a subdued and elegant pattern of lighting with excellent glare control. A light-colored floor contributes greatly to the effectiveness of this design.

The indirect lighting designs use valances, wall washers or coves to provide the most well-integrated lighting with excellent glare control. Wall wash lighting will tend to visually expand the size of the room. Cove and valance lighting will brighten the ceiling and give a sense of greater ceiling height.

When laying out the locations of wall washers, be sure to avoid aiming them at windows or doors as severe glare will be experienced when viewing the room through these openings.

The valance and light cove recommendations are based on installations constructed along the lines of the detail shown under Specifications for Fixtures.

What approaches are recommended to apply HPL?

Bathroom
Fixtures: Vanity light above mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Sconces beside mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Shower and toliet have recessed downlights, wet location, 13W. Ceiling surface unit is 26W. (Increase lighting proportionally for larger bathrooms.)
Click here to view a plan view.

Bathroom
Fixtures: Vanity light above mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Sconces beside mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Shower and toliet have recessed downlights, wet location, 13W. Ceiling surface unit is a recessed downlight with a white reflector, 26W. (Increase lighting proportionally for larger bathrooms.)
Click here to view a plan view.

Bathroom
Fixtures: Vanity light above mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Sconces beside mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Shower and toliet have recessed downlights, wet location, 13W CFL. Ceiling surface unit is a recessed downlight with a clear reflector, 26W CFL. (Increase lighting proportionally for larger bathrooms.)
Click here to view a plan view.

Bathroom
Fixture: Cove: Two T-5 or T-8 strip lights. Sconces beside mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Shower, tub and toliet have recessed downlights, wet location, 13W CFL. (Add recessed downlights with clear reflectors, 26W CFL for larger bathroom areas.)
Click here to view a plan view.

Bathroom
Fixture: Valance above vanity: Two T-5 or T-8 strip lights. Shower, toliet and bathtub have a recessed downlight, wet location, 13W CFL. (Add recessed downlights 26W with clear reflectors for larger bathroom areas.)
Click here to view a plan view.

Bathroom
Fixture: Recessed wall washers. Vanity light above mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Sconces beside mirror, 13W CFL each unit. Shower and toliet have recessed downlights, wet location, 13W.
Spacing: For maximum spacing of wall washers, see Fixtures for Indirect Lighting. (Increase the number of wall washers proportionally for larger bathrooms.)
Click here to view a plan view.

Top