Every building is composed of vertical walls around it, the walls play a supporting and blocking role while coexisting with the design of the building, reflecting the spatial artistry and beauty of the building and creating a unique atmosphere for the interior space. In the process of architectural shaping, light plays a vital role in the construction of space.
From a visual point of view, the human eye’s attention range is normally in the horizontal line of sight up and down the range of 20 degree, people’s line of sight in the indoor and outdoor space is basically a flat view, usually more attention to the object’s facade. A three-dimensional sense of knowledge in space, is determined by the hierarchy of the facade, rather than the horizontal plane, the facade is for the visual creation of a three-dimensional sense of space at the core. Therefore the vertical surface lighting is the primary concern to meet the visual comfort, with elevation lighting to highlight the decorative design of the space.
Commonly used wall lighting is divided into three methods: wall washing lighting, wipe the wall lighting and through lighting inside. These three lighting techniques are often used in facade lighting.
Wall Washing Lighting
As the name suggests, it is the light as water to the wall, evenly spread on a particular wall, with hidden lamps illuminated wall at a certain angle, to prevent the wall from appearing strong shadow effect, mainly used for architectural decorative lighting or draw the outline of a large building, suitable for use in the material paint relatively smoother wall. The overall brightening effect makes the space appear more spacious and three-dimensional, looks more clean and elegant.
Light washing wall lighting effect can attract people to a particular wall, often used in art museums to highlight the performance of art on the wall. While highlighting the works, the soft and comfortable light environment reduces the visual fatigue of the audience and helps the audience to appreciate it for a long time.
This type of light is often installed far away from the wall. Conventional practice is that the distance between the lights and the wall is 1/3 to 1/5 of the height of the illuminated wall(ordinary 2.7 to 2.7m layer height, with special spotlights can be appropriately adjusted spacing).
As one of the most common lighting techniques used in home decor, the following 6 types of wall washing lights are usually used: Magnetic track floodlights, Horizontal line lights, Surface mounted spotlights, Recessed spotlights, Upward-facing line lights, Downward-facing line lights.
Wipe the Wall Lighting
A kind of lighting design technique derived from wall washing lighting. Compared with the wall washing lighting, it pays more attention to the material and texture of the lighted surface itself, wiping the light over the wall at the smallest angle, highlighting the concave and convex texture of the wall itself, and providing a unique visual experience.
To create the “wall wiping” effect, the light source needs to be arranged as close as possible to the lighted surface, with a very narrow beam of light, such as densely mounted downlighting or linear fixtures, to hit the light on the wall. When the luminaire is a certain distance away from the wall, a narrow beam luminaire with straight down adjustable direction can be used.
Through Lighting Inside
Through lighting inside means that the light comes through from the inside out. Using transparent, semi-transparent or perforated materials, the light source is hided inside, and the light illuminates the outline of the object from the inside of the object, making the wall more interesting as if it were glowing on its own. In addition to unique lighting methods, internal translucent lighting can minimize glare and light infringement, reduce light pollution, and is also a manifestation of green lighting design.
With the continuous development of architectural space design, people gradually began to use lighting to shape the overall sense of atmosphere of the space and enhance the sense of hierarchy of the space.
Post time: Nov-28-2023