lighting

Nothing transforms the way that space is experienced as much as lighting. Colors render differently; surfaces change; a sense of depth and volume can be enhanced or reduced; a feeling of warmth or frigidity can be created; a space can feel dim, cozy and relaxing or bright, alert and vivid. Perhaps most excitingly, a single space can play with all of these things, based on its lighting alone. In our lighting experiments, several general strategies for creating pleasant and dramatic lighting have emerged: the intentional use of contrast, brightness, immersive lighting, projection, dimness, and warmth. These lighting strategies mark the first section of this page, and are followed by a section on lighting equipment.

LIGHTING STRATEGY

i. contrast

using contrasting lighting colors to achieve a dramatic effect

Light is only visible when it is refracted off of a surface (whether massive, like a building, or tiny, like a particle of fog or dust). Light does not illuminate space, only material. This being the case, it always is in a three-dimensional relationship with surface, and it is here that different hues of light can come into relationship with one another. At a fundamental level, a single, 2-dimensional surface can be illuminated in different areas by different colors; perhaps more compellingly, 3-dimensional geometries can be illuminated from different angles by different colored lights to create wild and dazzling effects and mixtures, where the colors are mixed, blocked, and preserved. Figuring out how to light up a foregrounded object with one color and a backgrounded surface with another color is a good way to make a space really grip its visitors. Below are some of the moments where this has been successfully achieved.

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The placement of the pink grow light and the turquoise light facing upwards from different sides of the room yielded these incredible contrasting colors on the surfaces of our ceiling and walls.

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The placement of an LED flood light (set to green), facing upwards on a windowsill to illuminate the underside of this monstera deliciosa foliage contrasts with the pink wash of two grow lights, faced upwards on top of wardrobes (higher up than the leaves of the plant). On the right-hand side, the warm red light of a heat lamp (making sure to use a ceramic-based housing for safety and durability!).

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This hallway was lit using colored CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs) in a medium base string light strand. I prefer to use CFLs instead of LEDs for red light in particular, because the red is much richer and warmer.

ii. brightness

intentionally harnessing ridiculously bright light

Brightness is fairly straightforward: making a room feel bright can contribute to a feeling of alertness and energy. If full-spectrum lighting (especially daylight-colored light, which is around 5500K [see guide to lighting color temperature here]) is used, a room can be made to feel bright in a way that feels like sunshine, which has been shown to help alleviate symptoms of Seasonal Depressive Disorder during the months when the days are short and the weather is gray.

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This room was lit using massive, 5500k CFLs. The use of three or four will fill a room with so much light that it appears sunny, even at night.

iii. immersion

The immersive use of lighting takes light and turns it into an environment. It can involve a bright light source that actually washes a space in a bath of light, or a number of similarly-colored lights producing a consistent effect or overall feeling.

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This scene used upwards-facing can light housing with RGB LED bulbs (always get ones with 'memory', so that they remember what color they are set to when turned off, so that they can resume this color when switched back on) set to orange inside of them, plus several candles.

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here, we used a series of 4 daylight-colored T8 fluorescent bulbs, mounted in very simple T8 housing (2 bulbs per fixture), with the bulbs nested inside of colored sleeves (3x canary yellow, plus 1x green). These fixtures were carefully mounted to a sheet of plywood and stood up vertically, to produce a minimalist light sculpture to gather around.

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The above scene used an RGB LED flood light set to blue facing upwards, heat lamps (making sure to use a ceramic-based housing for safety and durability!) facing downwards, and pink grow lights facing upwards on top of wardrobes illuminating the ceiling,

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Here, we illuminated the snow at our feet using one super-bright grow light.

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This lovely contraption consists of several orange spot lights aimed at pieces of reflective mylar emergency blanket taped to a small fan. When the fan is on, it flaps the mylar strips around in the air stream, reflecting the orange light and mimicking a campfire. This is really effective and convincing!!

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This big tent was illuminated with two lights: a pink grow light for uplighting, and a warm red heat lamp (making sure to use a ceramic-based housing for safety and durability!) for downlighting. To give some atmospheric perspective, we operated a small fog machine as well, which makes the air itself glow.

iv. projection

While all lighting is technically projection (the projection of light onto surfaces), here we are referring to the throwing of images or intentional casting of shadows or silhouettes onto surfaces.

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This wonderful image is of a ceiling illuminated by a laser star projector (the best ones have moving stars and blue nebulous clouds!).

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Here, two different colors of RGB LED lights cast the silhouettes of these two yucca plants against a sheet of translucent plastic. Achieving semi-transparencies to project on or backlight can be a dramatic presence in a space.

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Here we used heat lamps to achieve a warm glow upstairs, with a pink grow light aimed upwards throwing the silhouettes of palm plants on the ceiling.

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This remarkable scene used multiple black lights hanging vertically at the center of a large tent, with a bubble machine using UV-activated bubble fluid (for glowing bubbles!!), and neon tape and bodypaint on dancers. The result was completely remarkable.

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Here we used warm white 12v LEDs poked into speaker wire and attached to a 12v power supply. The LEDs were housed in Moroccan lanterns. The result was a nice, dim, calming lighting.