How does light facilitate orientation?
Guiding through office buildings with light
Creating hierarchies
Good orientation improves the understanding of a building and therefore the levels of user acceptance. In particular, differentiated light helps to create perception hierarchies. Linear lighting guides through open plan areas for example. Wallwashing on the other hand serves to visualise room borders. Vertical lighting also improves the ambience by giving rooms a bright and generous spatial appearance. Well-lit circulation area not only support access, but also promote spontaneous, informal conversations between colleagues.
Defining rooms with wallwashing
Vertical lighting facilitates orientation by defining peripheral room surfaces, thus rendering important elements visible such as staircase cores. In contrast to horizontal lighting, illuminated walls give rooms a bright and generous impression. This effect increases the acceptance of narrow corridors. Wallwashing is therefore an ideal solution for creating bright spatial impressions in circulation areas with low levels of daylight. The feeling of security is improved.
Guiding with linear lighting
Linear lighting enables the precise and efficient illumination of circulation areas and the linear distribution dynamically guides through open areas. A sequence of oval light distributions creates a precise, narrow band of light on the floor without affecting adjacent work areas. Using oval beams in the direction of movement also allows wide luminaire spacing—this enables the number of luminaires and therefore associated costs to be kept low.
ERCO light guide: Work
Planning tips for design and technology
