Lighting Guide 2: Lighting for healthcare premises

Nicholas Bukorovic

• Publisher: The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers/ The Society of Light and Lighting
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781912034468
• eBook ISBN: 9781912034475
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Healthcare buildings cover a wide range of premises that accommodate activities and facilities to support human health. Healthcare environments must provide clear, unambiguous and simple information to building users who are often in a state of stress or anxiety. Lighting plays an essential role in contributing to the legibility of an environment. This is paramount when many people visiting the building are both insecure and unfamiliar with their surroundings. Hospitals and healthcare buildings are among the most complex and varied that a lighting designer will meet. In undertaking such a role, the lighting designer must satisfy two very important considerations. The obvious and most important will be to meet the many and diverse task requirements demanded of each area within the building. Some of the tasks to be carried out will require specific and exacting levels of visual performance. The very safety of its occupants depends on it; not only must the performance be met, but it must also be maintained throughout a series of possible supply interruptions. Achieving performance standards for visual tasks will be the very least that is required of the designer to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors.The second and almost equally important consideration will be to create an environment that is visually satisfying, wholly appropriate and calming. Understandably, publications aimed at advising lighting designers within the healthcare establishment generally focus most of their attention on the issue of technical excellence; but lighting has always been more than just providing for the visual task — it requires consideration of the illumination of spaces to enhance and describe the architecture and, more importantly, contribute to a sense of wellbeing. Good lighting will also help promote an air of quality and competence within the hospital, providing a welcome reassurance for patients and help many patients and visitors feel more positive about their experiences there. Beyond the visual task, there are many ways in which lighting can contribute to the clarity and legibility of an environment, for example by providing coherence in lighting properties such as colour temperature and colourrendering index. Light can also help identify spatial boundaries and can provide clarity by contributing to way finding.The section on colour and architecture further exploits the influence that total appreciation and coordination of design philosophies can have on the finished building. Projects have increasingly used the technical and task requirements as a 'minimum achievable' benchmark. They should all now aim to produce creative elements in all areas where it is essential to craft a quality 'feel' to the space.Quality lighting must be viewed as crucial in its contribution to the through-life costs and performance of the building and not just as an unnecessary erosion of profit. Furthermore, while it is understood that no project, irrespective of its size, is without its budgets, the lighting designer must, in addition to the initial capital costs, take into consideration the ongoing energy and maintenance costs together with its eventual disposal cost, i.e. its 'whole life cost'. Whole life cost, however, must also consider the quality and effectiveness of the visual environment; if it enhances the performance of the staff or the recovery of the patients then it will be money well spent. It would also only represent a tiny part of the overall cost of the hospital.Mindful of the fact that many 'non-technical' people may be involved within the design team, project deliverables should aim to assist interested parties in visualising the finished results. This helps avoid interested members being daunted by incomprehensible jargon and encourage them to contribute earlier in the discussions.Healthcare environments encompass a broad range of facilities, each of which has its own requirements from multiple user's perspectives — for example, staff, patients, visitors, technical and maintenance workers. The lighting criteria for each space will require consideration of the whole context of the patient journey and operation of the facility.

Table of contents

• Lighting Guide 2: Lighting for healthcare premises OFC
• Foreword
• Preface
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part A: General recommendations
• 1 Design considerations
• Part B: Specific recommendations
• 2 General
• 3 Public areas
• 4 Clinical areas and operating departments
• 5 Specialised areas
• 6 Lighting formental health
• 7 Healthcare centres and stand alone facilities
• 8 Exterior lighting
• 9 Emergency lighting
• 10 Lighting controls
• 11 Light sources
• References
• Appendix: Luminaire maintenance schedule
• Index