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

SUPPLEMENTING DECORATIVE LUMINAIRES
Hopefully, it is clear through all of our discussions that glowing decorative sources of light are not ideal stand-alone tools for our version of integrated architectural lighting design. Decorative luminaires do have an important place in our lighting tool vocabulary, but, on their own, they tend to be sources of glare and leave a room gloomy. To make better use of these decorative luminaires, we need to support them with more directional luminaires nearby. When we have concealed sources that we can use to place specific pieces of light where we want, we are free to use our decorative sources at lower light levels for the subtle visual effects and mood effects we desire.
Figure 14.8 Providing directed accent light frees up glowing sources to serve as decoration.
DIRECTIONAL DECORATIVE LUMINAIRES
In order to avoid tiptoeing around decorative lighting elements, it helps to be deliberate in the types of decorative luminaires specified. It is useful to draw a clear distinction between self-luminous glowing sources and shielded decorative luminaires that direct light back onto nearby surfaces. Luminaires that appear as glowing bright spots tend to be overly self-serving and don’t always support the
space as a whole. Decorative luminaires that direct light can be used like our other architectural light sources for lighting surfaces. For every glowing decorative pendant, wall sconce and floor lamp, there is probably a version of the luminaire that shields the source and directs the light onto the surfaces of the space.
Figure 14.9 Decorative luminaires like the linear pendant shown here can be designed to provide functional light for tasks and ambience.
The ideas presented here are just a head-start toward familiarity of the ways light can be effectively delivered to add emotion and experience to our designed environments. With a dedication to dissecting designed environments, the designer will steadily build a repertoire of lighting ideas and concepts that will work for him/her. As this knowledge base grows, it is a helpful practice for a designer to pinpoint what works and what could be changed to improve the interaction of light in the spaces he/she visits.
There are few absolutes in design, and even fewer in lighting design, but
the images and concepts discussed in this chapter should encourage you to think
a bit deeper about what options are available and should get you to question the status-quo solutions that get applied to so many spaces.