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High Performance Lighting Guide

Principles

Dining room lighting typically features specific lighting at the dining table and sometimes at a sideboard. Functionally, the dining room may play several roles including formal dining area or as a much used workspace. The ambient lighting recommendations of this guide are intended to provide the IESNA recommended 5 FC general illumination level in a glare-free manner. This type of lighting will be compatible with the later addition of specific task lighting such as a chandelier or pendant lamps over the dining table, or accent lighting at the sideboard.

High performance lighting in the dining room. Click for a larger image.

Because of the desirability of glare-free illumination for the dining room ambient light, no direct lighting designs are offered as they generally provide efficient light but with considerable glare.

The recessed lighting design, using recessed downlights with clear reflectors, provides a subdued and elegant pattern of lighting with excellent glare control. Fixtures should be positioned ½ of the design spacing from the wall to avoid scallops of light on the wall and to illuminate the room from the objects within it. A light-colored floor contributes greatly to the effectiveness of this design.

The indirect lighting designs use 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 lighting, by brightening the ceiling, will give a sense of greater ceiling height.

When designing for the use of wall washers, literature from manufacturers generally recommends spacing that will result in the most uniform wall surface illumination. This guide considers a generally wider spacing to better tailor the installation to meet the recommended ambient light levels in IESNA Guidelines. This may result in some scalloping effect on walls, which can be advantageous to illuminating artwork. Spacing following the manufacturer’s recommendations will give the most uniform wall surface lighting. 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 light cove recommendations are based on coves constructed along the lines of the detail shown under Specifications for Fixtures.

What approaches are recommended to apply HPL?

Dining Room
Fixtures: Recessed downlights with clear reflectors.
Spacing: For maximum spacing, see Fixtures for Recessed Lighting.
Click here to view a plan view.

Dining Room
Fixture: Recessed wall washers.
Spacing: For maximum spacing, see Fixtures for Indirect Lighting.
Click here to view a plan view.

Dining Room
Fixture: Light cove, T-5 or T-8 strip lights.
Spacing: Continous.
Click here to view a plan view.
On plan view: Coves on one side for rooms up to 15ft wide, coves on opposite sides for rooms up to 30ft wide.