Lighting has four unique functions as a design element. They are:
PROVIDES VISION: Without light there is no vision. Lighting allows us to see. This is the most basic design element, but lighting design is much more than providing general illumination.
CONTROLS FOCUS: Because our eyes are naturally drawn to bright areas, lighting directs our focus. As designers, we control this instinct by focusing light where it is needed or wanted. We orient people by adjusting lighting levels. This can be subtle or blatant.
DEFINES FORMS: When we cannot touch an object, light tells us what we are seeing. Lighting design requires controlling both the highlights and the shadows. This is how we can tell, without touching a surface, whether it's rough, smooth, flat, sloping, a cube, a pyramid, or a sphere.
CREATES MOODS: We can make a space that is bright and active or one that is soft and romantic. Lighting is the design element that controls our emotional response to space.
These four functions play different roles in different projects, and we meet these goals by manipulating lighting's tools:
||How bright is the source?
||Where is the source?
||What is the source?
||How is the source controlled?
Can it be refocused?
The correct design is the one appropriate for the job. Artists frequently have a style. You can identify a Renoir, Picasso, or Rembrandt from across a room because their hands are obvious.Because we collaborate with architects, engineers, interior designers, and owners, we vary the style of each design to suit the project. We refuse to leave the same thumbprint on every design.Our architectural design projects include: