The architecture of light: architectural lighting design concepts and techniques. A textbook of procedures and practices for the architect, interior designer and lighting designer pdfdrive com

Part III Deliverables

Chapter 21

Deciphering Manufacturers Literature and Luminaire Cut Sheets
Before we can hope to make intuitive decisions about selecting lighting equipment to solve our lighting challenges, we must dedicate some time to understanding what types of luminaires are available to us. Lighting products, like most specification design products, have a wealth of information published about them to help the designer determine which product is most appropriate. In addition to printed catalogs and websites, most lighting manufacturers employ a local representative to service the needs of the designer. This representative will take the time to explain why a particular piece of lighting equipment may or may not suit ones needs. The manufacturer’s rep can also give pricing information and indicate shipping lead times for time sensitive jobs. One of the best things designers can do to position themselves for good lighting knowledge is to contact their local lighting manufacturer’s representative agency.
Lighting literature comes in all shapes and sizes and all levels of
usefulness. Manufacturers publish what they call “cut sheets” to list the various features, options and capabilities of a lighting product. First and foremost, a product cut sheet should give us an idea of the size, function and overall appearance of a product. Beyond these basics, the level of information provided by various manufacturers varies greatly from very vague to very detailed.
Generally, the more technically inclined the luminaire, the more articulate the
information. Some of our more exotic decorative luminaires provide very little information. In order to learn to decipher these manufacturers cut sheets, we will look at a few examples and learn how to identify the key pieces of information.
The complex and cryptic nature of lighting manufacturers’ cut sheets
should not prevent a designer from taking up lighting as a design tool. If a designer can develop confidence in the ability to gather information from these cut-sheets, he/she will be well armed to make confident luminaire decisions. The ability to decipher manufacturers’ cut sheets is absolutely necessary for properly specifying and ordering lighting equipment.
The following is a list of features that the designer should be able to identify from a cut sheet and put together to create a complete luminaire product number. As the designer reads about the pieces of information that he/she is looking for, refer back to the sample cut sheet in Figure 21.1.
PHYSICAL BASICS
The first impression of a luminaire should be its size, shape and function. It should be readily apparent how and where this luminaire would be mounted (surface, recessed, wall, ceiling, etc.). If the luminaire is recessed into the wall or ceiling, the cut sheet should quickly confirm whether the luminaire will fit into the space available. One should also get an impression of how the luminaire will look in the space.
Figure 21.1 A typical architectural luminaire cut sheet. In this case, a recessed adjustable accent luminaire.
The cut sheet shown for reference in Figure 21.1 is for a small adjustable accent luminaire and includes all of the various reflectors and the various housings that can accommodate it. This is a recessed adjustable accent luminaire. Upon first glance, it should be obvious that this piece of equipment recesses into the ceiling plane. We should be able to identify the lamp located within the luminaire, and the angle of the lamp should hint that this is an adjustable / aimable luminaire. The other piece of information that should jump out at us is the sheer size of a simple luminaire like this. This recessed accent luminaire is a good example of how large these luminaires can get. If we look at the cut sheet, we see that there are three different sizes of housing available for different uses of this luminaire.