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High Performance Lighting Guide

Principles

The key lighting requirement in the home office is to control glare conditions on a computer screen. For this reason, no direct lighting designs are presented because, though they provide efficient illumination, they do so with considerable glare. These lighting designs are intended to provide 5 FC or higher illumination, meeting IESNA guidelines in general room use and circulation.

High performance lighting in the home office. Click for a larger image.

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?

Home Office
Fixtures: Recessed downlights with clear reflectors.
Spacing: For maximum spacing, see Fixtures for Recessed Lighting.
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Home Office
Fixture: Light cove, T-5 or T-8 strip.
Spacing: Continous.
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On plan view: Coves on one side for rooms up to 15ft wide, coves on opposite sides for rooms up to 30ft wide.

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