Kitchen and Bath Lighting

Concept, Design, Light

Dan Blitzer, Tammy Mackay

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781119124566
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Interior Design

The industry standard illustrated guide from the National Kitchen and Bath Association

Co-published by the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), Kitchen and Bath Lighting is the go-to resource for designing, planning, and installing light in residential kitchen and bath projects. Full color illustrations throughout the book make Kitchen and Bath Lighting a visually absorbing experience. This beautiful volume begins with the basics of light, color, and vision, progressing from there through every stage of the residential lighting design process. With special attention to sustainability and lighting for older eyes, this book contains the information you need to know about the latest trends impacting the lighting industry.

Because the NKBA established the standard kitchen and bath guidelines for both new construction and remodels, Kitchen and Bath Lighting is aligned with the practices that are in high demand. This book is also an excellent choice for anyone hoping to obtain credentials as a Certified Kitchen Designer or Certified Bath Designer.

• Comprehensive coverage of the kitchen and bath lighting process, from the fundamentals of color to design documentation to construction
• Illustrated guidelines for using lighting tools like sources, luminaries, and controls in design development
• Glossary and end-of-chapter exercises for quickly learning and referencing key terminology and lighting techniques
• Companion website offering resources for instructors

This new addition to the NKBA's Professional Resource Library is an essential reference for kitchen and bath designers, lighting designers, and interior designers, as well as contractors, retrofitters, specifiers, and anyone else involved in lighting kitchens and bathrooms. Kitchen and Bath Lighting will give you the visual understanding of lighting that can lead directly to client satisfaction.

1
How We See

Light, how it enables us to see, and lighting terminology together provide the necessary foundation for understanding lighting. In this chapter, we begin to consider these fundamental concepts. In subsequent chapters, we investigate lighting fundamentals in more detail.

• Learning Objective 1: Describe the physics of light and the physiology of the eye.
• Learning Objective 2: Explain in plain language how we see.
• Learning Objective 3: Recognize and use key lighting terms and metrics.
• Learning Objective 4: Distinguish between perceived and measured illumination.

PHYSICS OF LIGHT

Light is the energy that enables us to see. Technically, light is part of the broad spectrum of electromagnetic energy and is defined as visually evaluated radiant energy (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Light in the electromagnetic spectrum

Courtesy of Peter Hermes Furian

As you may recall from classes in physics, light exhibits the properties of both waves and particles. As a radiating wave, light can be described by its wavelength, which ranges from about 380 to 760 nanometers (billionths of a meter), the limits of human visual sensitivity. In the next chapter, we explain that describing light by its wavelength helps us to understand the interaction of light and materials. Later, when we look at light sources, we encounter the particle nature of light—especially in understanding LED technology.

A few observations:

• Light itself is invisible. We see it only when it interacts with materials (e.g., the filament of an electric light source, fabrics, or faces). More on this important idea shortly.
• Light can travel through some materials.
  • Transparent materials allow the passage of light without significant distortion so you can see the details of objects behind them (see Figure 1.2a).
  • Translucent materials allow light through but mix it up so that the details are obscured. (The entire object may be obscured, depending on the translucent material and the nature and location of the object.) (see Figure 1.2b).
  • Opaque materials block the passage of light altogether (see Figure 1.2c).

• Light changes direction when it reflects off surfaces or when it passes through materials, refracting (bending) or scattering (see Figure 1.3).

• Light that neither passes through nor reflects off materials is absorbed. Its energy becomes heat. Some light is absorbed in virtually every encounter with materials. Put your hand on the hood of a car that has been sitting in sunlight and see for yourself.

Figure 1.2 Transparent, translucent, opaque

Figure 1.3 Reflection, refraction, scattering

VISION

Although vision is not our oldest sense (we touch before we see), it dominates our perception. Basically, human vision is simple: Light interacts with objects; travels to, then enters, our eyes, where it is transformed into electrical signals; these signals travel neurological pathways to reach our brain, where they are interpreted into visual perception. Another way to express this basic process is by its four essential components (see Figure 1.4):

1. Light source
2. Object
3. Eye
4. Brain

Figure 1.4 Light source, object, eye, brain

We know a great deal about the physics of light and how it interacts with objects. We also know a great deal about the physiology of the human eye, how it receives light and creates neurological connections. We know considerably less about the complexities of how our neurological signals are combined with memory and interpretive algorithms into dynamic, three-dimensional perception.

Pause for a moment to consider the following. The signals received on the two-dimensional “screen” of our retina are fundamentally ambiguous: Is the retinal image a small object close by or a large one at a distance? Yet, apart from some notable optical illusions, we see the world unambiguously. This is only the most obvious example of our remarkable powers of visual perception. Good lighting can enhance these powers, while poorly designed lighting just makes seeing that much harder.

Contrast

Our visual system compares the incoming signals, searching for differences in light intensity and color. It does not measure or quantify them in technical photometric (light measurement) terms. Instead, the esse...