LIGHTING AND ACOUSTICS

DEFINITION OF TERMS
BALLAST: A device used to operate fluorescent and HID lamps. The
ballast
Provides the necessary starting voltage, while limiting and regulating the
lamp
;Current during operation.
COMPACT FLUORESCENT:
A small fluorescent lamp that is often used as an
Alternative to incandescent lighting. The lamp life is about 10 times longer
than incandescent lamps and is 3-4 times more efficacious. Also called
CFL lamps.
DIFFUSE:
Term describing dispersed light distribution. Refers to the scattering or
softening of light.
DIRECT GLARE:
Glare produced by a direct view of light sources. Often the
result of insufficiently shielded light sources.
EFFICACY:
A metric used to compare light output to energy consumption.
Efficacy is measured in lumens per watt. Efficacy is similar to efficiency,
but is expressed in dissimilar units. For example, if a 100-watt source
produces 9000 lumens, then the efficacy is 90 lumens per watt.

FLUORESCENT LAMP:
A light source consisting of a tube filled with argon, along with krypton or
other inert gas. When electrical current is applied, the resulting arc emits
ultraviolet radiation that excites the phosphors inside the lamp wall,
causing them to radiate visible light.
GLARE:
The effect of brightness or differences in brightness within the visual field
sufficiently high to cause annoyance, discomfort or loss of visual
performance.
GLARE INDEX
A quantification of discomfort glare in an installation
ILLUMINANCE:
A photometric term that quantifies light incident on a surface or
plane. Illuminance is commonly called light level. It is expressed as
lumens per square foot (footcandles), or lumens per square meter (lux).
INDIRECT GLARE: Glare produced from a reflective surface.
LIFE-CYCLE COST:
The total costs associated with purchasing, operating, and maintaining a
system over the life of that system.
LUMINAIRE:
A complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps, along with
the parts designed to distribute the light, hold the lamps, and connect the
lamps to a power source; also called a fixture.
LUMINANCE:
A photometric term that quantifies brightness of a light source or
of an illuminated surface that reflects light.
OCCUPANCY SENSOR:
Control device that turns lights off after the space becomes unoccupied; it
may be ultrasonic, infrared or other type.
REFLECTANCE:
The ratio of light reflected from a surface to the light incident on the
surface. Reflectances are often used for lighting calculations.
HUE
The attribute of colour that enables an observer to classify it as red, blue,
etc., and excludes white, black and grey. (the shade of a colour).
TASK AREA
The area where an activity takes place requiring illumination.
TRANSMITTANCE
The ratio of light transmitted through a substance to the incident light.
VISUAL TASK
The visual work being performed
Ambient lighting
refers to the genera; illumination in a space or room. It is usually soft
even and fills the entire room with light

INTRODUCTION
Light is the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Light radiates
and can travel unlimited distances through space. Light rays can however,
be reflected, transmitted or absorbed when they strike an object. The
visible spectrum is only a small part of the full electromagnetic spectrum

LIGHT SOURCES
1. Natural lighting also known as daylighting, is a technique that
efficiently brings natural light into your home using exterior glazing
[windows, skylight.]Thereby reducing artificial lighting requirement and
save energy.
The main source of our natural light are sun, moon, stars, fire and
electricity in storms.
Natural Lighting
Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into a space
through windows to reduce or eliminate electric lighting. By providing a
direct link to the dynamic and perpetually evolving patterns of outdoor
illumination, daylighting helps create a visually stimulating and productive
environment for building occupants, while reducing as much as one third
of total building energy costs.
There are however several factors that have to be put into consideration
to enable effective and efficient natural lighting of a given space. It
indicates that this involves more than just adding windows or skylights to
a space. It explains that it is the careful balancing of heat gain and loss,
‘glare control, and variations in daylight availability. For example,
successful daylighting designs will invariably pay close attention to the
use of shading devices to reduce glare and excess contrast in the
workspace. Additionally, window size and spacing, glass selection, the
reflectance of interior finishes and the location of any interior partitions
must all be evaluated.
In most buildings, the most frequently used daylighting strategies are top
lighting and side lighting strategies. These are further discussed below
Top lighting Strategies
Large single level floor areas and the top floors of multi-storey buildings
can benefit from top lighting. It identifies the general types of top lighting
as including
 skylights,
 clerestories,
 monitors,
 Saw tooth roofs.
These are further discussed below.
i. Skylights
Horizontal skylights can be an energy problem because they tend to
receive maximum solar gain at
the peak of the day. The daylight contribution also peaks at midday and
falls off severely in the morning and afternoon.
There are high performance skylight designs that incorporate reflectors
or prismatic lenses that reduce the peak daylight and heat gain while
increasing early and late afternoon daylight contributions.
It also indicates another option as light pipes where a high reflectance
duct channels the light from a skylight down to a diffusing lens in the
room. These may be advantageous in deep roof constructions.
ii. Clerestory Window
Clerestory window is vertical glazing located high on an exterior wall.
South-facing
clerestories can be effectively shaded from direct sunlight by a properly
designed horizontal overhang. In this design, the interior north wall can be
sloped to better reflect the light down into the room.
It’s recommended that Light-coloured overhangs should be used with
adjacent roof surfaces to improve the reflected component. If exterior
shading is not possible, interior vertical baffles ought to be considered to
better diffuse the light. A south-facing clerestory will produce higher
daylight illumination than a north-facing clerestory.
East and west facing clerestories have the same problems as east and
west windows: difficult
Shading and potentially high heat gains.
iii. Roof Monitor
Roof monitor consists of a flat roof section raised above the adjacent roof
with vertical glazing on
all sides. It notes that this design often results in excessive glazing area,
which results in higher heat losses and gains than a clerestory design. The
multiple orientations of the glazing can also create shading problems.
iv. Saw tooth Roof
A saw tooth roof is an old design often seen in industrial buildings.
Typically some sloped
surface is opaque and the other is glazed.
A contemporary saw tooth roof may have solar collectors or photovoltaic
cells on the south
facing slope and daylight glazing on the north-facing slope.
Side lighting strategies
This is the controlled admission of natural light from the sides of buildings.
This is mostly through the use of windows and light shelves which are
further discussed in depth below.
i. Windows
A standard window can produce useful illumination to a depth of about 1.5
times the height of the window. With light shelves or other reflector
systems, this can be increased to 2.0 times or more.
A general rule-of-thumb, the higher the window is placed on the wall, the
deeper the daylight penetration
Window Design Considerations
The daylight that arrives at a work surface comes from three sources:
i. The exterior reflected component - This includes ground surfaces,
Pavement, adjacent buildings, wide windowsills, and objects.
The designer should however remember that excessive ground
reflectance will result in glare. He should thus get a way to avoid this.
ii. The direct sun/sky component - Typically the direct sun component
is blocked from occupied spaces because of heat gain, glare, and Ultra
Violet degradation issues. The sky dome, due to its reflectance, then
becomes an important contribution to daylighting the space.
iii. The internal reflected component - Once the daylight enters the
room, the surrounding wall, ceiling, and floor surfaces are important light
reflectors. Using high reflectance surfaces will better bounce the daylight
around the room and it will reduce extreme brightness contrast. Window
frame materials should be light-coloured to reduce contrast with the view
and have a non-specular finish to eliminate glare spots. The window jambs
and sills can be beneficial light reflectors. Deep jambs should be splayed
(angled toward the interior) to reduce the contrast around the perimeter
of the window.
The most important interior light-reflecting surface is the ceiling. Tilting
the ceiling plane toward the daylight source increases the daylight that is
reflected from this surface. In small rooms the rear wall is the next
important surface because it is directly facing the window. This surface
should also be a high reflectance matte finish. The side walls followed by
the floor have less impact on the reflected daylight in the space. Major
room furnishings such as office cubicles or partitions can have a
significant impact on reflected light so light-coloured materials should be
selected.
recommended surface reflectances are:
Ceiling 80-90%
Walls 40-60%
Floors 20-40%
Furnishings 25-45%
ii. Light Shelves
Since luminance ratios or brightness is a major consideration in view
windows, it is often wise to separate the view aperture from the daylight
aperture. This allows a higher visible transmittance glazing in the daylight
aperture if it is out of normal sight
lines. Since the ceiling is the most important light-reflecting surface, using
this
surface to bounce daylight deep into the room can be highly effective.
Both of
these strategies are utilized in light shelf designs.
A light shelf is a horizontal light-reflecting overhang placed above eye-
level with
a transom window placed above it. This design, which is most effective on
southern orientations, improves daylight penetration, creates shading
near the window, and helps reduce window glare. Exterior shelves are
more effective shading devices than interior shelves. A combination of
exterior and interior will work best in providing an even illumination
gradient.
.
2. Artificial lighting it is any light source that is not naturally
occurring/it is manmade.
They are incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lamps, and LED lights
etc.
Artificial lighting is required for the following purposes:
i. To light the building after dark.
ii. To supplement day light where necessary.
iii. To provide special lighting on difficult visual tasks.
iv. To maintain attention on the work.
v. To ensure safety and alertness
Incandescent lighting
Incandescent lighting has traditionally delivered about 85% of household
illumination. Their use in office spaces is however limited to stores and
sometimes washrooms. Incandescent lamps operate without ballast, are
dimmable and instantly controllable, and light up instantly.

Most familiar are the standard pear-shaped, screw-in “A”-type

incandescent light bulbs. They produce a warm light and provide excellent
color rendition. They have a low efficacy compared to all other lighting
options (10 to 17 lumens per watt) and a short average operating life (750
to 2500 hours).
Incandescent lamps can be made in other shapes and variations.
Tungsten halogen lamps provide excellent color rendition. Reflector (R)
and parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR) lamps direct light in a desired
direction. All three are slightly more efficient than standard bulbs, have
longer operating lives (2000 to 4000 hours), and are often used for accent
lighting
Fluorescent lighting
These use 25 to 35 percent of the energy used by incandescent lamps to
provide the same amount of illumination (efficacy of 30 to 110 lumens per
watt) and last about 10 times longer (7,000 to
24,000 hours). Improvements in technology have resulted in fluorescent
lamps with color temperature and color rendition that are comparable to
incandescent lamps.
 Fluorescent lamps require a ballast to regulate operating current and
provide a high start-up voltage.
Electronic ballasts outperform standard and improved electromagnetic
ballasts by operating at a very high frequency that eliminates flicker and
noise. They are also more energy-efficient. Special ballasts are needed to
allow dimming of fluorescent lamps. Two general types of fluorescent
lamps are available. The traditional tube-type fluorescent is usually
identified as T12 or T8 (12/8 or 8/8 of

Design Principles and Design Parameters of Buildings

The design principals discussed below mainly revolve around the aspects
of organization and geometry of the designed buildings. These aspects are
considered to have a strong influence on the running costs of lighting in
office buildings. The design variables depicted are organization of space,
unity of composition, shape, rhythm, proportion and form.
These principles have been selected because they have a relationship
with the measured design parameters such as height, floor area, window
areas, shape and perimeter of the building. This relationship is discussed
below.
Organization of space - defines the organization of space as the valid
spatial arrangements which can only be devised from adequate
consideration of the creation of internal and external volumes and
interrelationship and behaviour of objects, elements and people within the
defined field of vision.

From these definitions of space, one can infer that space is physically
defined by its size and shape. The space maybe measured by use of
height, area, perimeter and number of storeys. It should be put in mind
that room dimensions and finishes also affect the required light output
and thus the energy consumption of all interior lighting systems. Hence,
they should be put into serious consideration during the design process.
Research has shown that light penetrates up to 1.5 times the height of the
opening as noted earlier. Hence, the organization of a particular space will
determine the amount of natural light the given space receives.
Unity of composition - unity of composition as the relationship among
all the parts of a designed building. Such relationship must seem natural,
whole and pleasant to the eye. To achieve unity of composition, the
designer is guided by an accepted contemporary style. This is the single
most important design principle. It can be concluded that unity of
composition is related to both size and shape of a building which are
themselves design parameters.
Shape of building -shape is the area of a space enclosed by more than
two lines. Thus, the shape of a building is the area in space enclosed by
the building elements. The basic geometrical shapes are triangles,
rectangles, squires and circles

Successful acoustic design means the creation of interior spaces that

support the activities taking place within it. The scope of things affected
by acoustic design is becoming increasingly evident; not only how we hear
and perceive our environments but also the effect noise and sound has on
our mental and physical well-being.

Benefits of a good lighting in a given space

1. Increase productivity: Good lighting in workspaces can enhance
alertness and create pleasant and focus, and ultimate boosts productivity
levels.
2. Improves mood: Adequate lighting can positively impact mood and
create a pleasant and
And inviting atmosphere.
3. Enhance safety: Proper lighting is essential in ensuring a safe
environment. It helps
Individual navigate their surroundings effectively and reduces the risk of
accidents and
Injuries.

4. Better visibility: Good lighting enables individuals to see clearly and

improves visual
Comfort. This is especially important in task that require attention to
detail such as
Reading, cooking etc.
5. Aesthetics: proper lighting can enhance the overall aesthetics of a
space by highlighting
Architectural features, artwork or decos.
6. Health benefits: Exposure to natural light or artificial lighting that
mimics natural light can
Have positive effects on mental health, mood regulation and sleep
patterns.
7. Visual acuity: Adequate lighting helps maintaining visual acuity and
reduces eyestrain.

Luminous Environment
For good lighting it is essential that as well as the required illumination
level is achieved it is important that the requirements of the occupant are
considered. Lighting should meet the three basic human needs:
• Visual comfort
• Visual performance
• Safety By meeting these basic requirements the lighting scheme will
offer a feeling of wellbeing and allow all tasks to be safely and efficiently
carried out.
Luminance Distribution
The distribution of the source of illumination is important as this will have
a direct effect on the individual and it is important to ensure that the level
of adaption is balanced throughout the space.
This will increase visual acuity and contrast, as positive aspects, but good
distribution will reduce the risk of excess levels of brightness which in turn
can lead to glare which can lead to fatigue and poor performance.
However a good level of contrast is important so as to create an
interesting environment for people.

Glare
Glare must be limited to avoid errors, fatigue and accidents.
Glare can be experienced as either:
• Discomfort glare
• Disability glare if the limits of discomfort glare are met, disability glare is
not usually a problem.
The glare rating for a scheme should be calculated using the Unified Glare
Rating (UGR) tabular method and must be below the rating listed for the
application. It should be noted that high brightness reflections in the visual
task should be avoided and these can be prevented by correct
arrangement of work spaces, choice of finishes, control of luminances and
bright ceiling and wall surfaces. Minimum shielding angles for bright light
sources are also specified for a range of lamp luminances.
The reason of having glare in an interior space.
For external light sources
Improper light design.
Improper window treatment.
Poor control of artificial light source