Lighting Plan
An important part of creating a complete interior design is the lighting plan. After all, a good interior falls or stands with the choice of the right lighting in the right place. And of course, consideration of daylight is an essential part of that.
Daylight
When designing a house, an architect already considers where daylight enters. He or she determines how the light relates to the functional layout of the house. The orientation of the house in relation to the sun is leading in the lighting plan. Where does the morning sun shine in? Which rooms face south? In what areas of the house does the evening sun come in? In the Netherlands, we are not generously endowed with sunlight in winter and cherish every incoming daylight. So the rooms where you spend a lot of time in the afternoon and evening orient to the west. You can filter any excessive daylight in the summer by using net curtains, drapes or shutters.
Lighting Plan
Besides daylight, choosing interior lighting is the next step. You can divide these into functional lighting and mood lighting. For functional lighting, we look at where in the house what lighting is needed and how you move through the house during the day. For example, while cooking, we need around 400 lux of illuminance on the worktop and about 250 lux for general lighting. The same goes for the bathroom. For other rooms, 300 lux is sufficient for local lighting (for reading, for example) and around 100 lux for general room lighting. In a study, general lighting may be even lower if the table lighting is 300 lux. In the hall, near the entrance, we also want the lighting dimmed a little more than in the living or dining room.
Light color
The color of the light is between 2700 and 3000 Kelvin. 2700 Kelvin corresponds to the somewhat yellowish incandescent bulbs of the past and 3000 Kelvin is warm white in color. For reference, the white light at the dentist, for example, is often around 5000 Kelvin and daylight is at 6500 Kelvin.
Mood lighting
Only after we have determined the required or desired illuminance in all rooms and drawn in the floor plan, do we look for suitable fixtures. In this, of course, aesthetic considerations play a role. There are endless beautiful lamps out there. Most importantly, they should fit into the overall picture of the interior design concept. In some cases that may be a minimalist lamp that fits seamlessly, in other cases we very deliberately choose a lamp that contrasts nicely with its immediate surroundings. The challenge for us as designers is to find a sophisticated balance between contrasting elements and stroking elements for each project. In our interior designs, we create a mix of floor lamps, wall lamps and ceiling lamps. This applies not only to lamps but to all the objects we place in the interior.