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The most common mistake made in illuminating a space is the identification of lighting and lighting fixtures...! Lighting and luminaires are different things, as strange as it sounds ....
It has been a long time since the artificial lighting was used only to be able to see after dusk.
Nowadays, at 21st century, progress is sprawling. Now - I believe - we are free from the slander of the hanging luminaire in the middle of the room, today's consumer has an incredible range of solutions and also an incredible range ... .. questions, which convert into an incredible range of possible...mistakes!!
You see, the advancing technological progress and the knowledge that accompanies it is spread mainly academically among a small group of specialists, while in everyday and fair-minded consumers only one or two conversations come in the form of advertising slogans by companies or general advice from "unsolicited specialists »...
This "cognitive gap" attempts to cover - as space allows us - by quoting the 12 most common mistakes made in the choice of lighting and lighting fixtures.
In the hope, of course, that we will help you to avoid them....
1) Potato or Potatoe
The most common mistake made in illuminating a space is the identification of lighting and lighting fixtures! Lighting and luminaires are ... different things, how weird it sounds ....
Luminaires are a single parameter of lighting. Instead, lighting is a function of many parameters, such as the dimensions of the space, the ceiling-wall-coloring (absorbing and reflecting light), the activity carried out in the room (with the recommended lux- etc.), the type of lighting (general-local-theatrical etc), the direction of lighting (direct and indirect), uniformity, color, color rendering, natural lighting and finally lighting fixtures which will fit in our space.
So the question is first the lighting and then the lights that will succeed...
2) If you were lucky ....
As already mentioned, today the consumer has a wealth of solutions at his disposal.
He had more to choose from among the luminous, the lampshade or the candlestick ... But today what? Floor lamps, spotlights, chandeliers, ceiling lights, rails, hidden lights, LED, table, fiber optics ......etc. in incredible varieties of colors and shapes that instead of making it easier it confuses the issue...
Which solution to choose and what criteria?
Which quickly translates to .... what solution will ...... draw?
The choice is usually made on .... The usual ex-post justification is ... because we saw it in a house or a friend told us or we liked a photo in a magazine or we heard that it was fashionable now or was the cheapest or ultimately we liked it most...
However, by selecting fixtures in .... luck and with unique criteria imitation, exterior appearance or price, lighting is not done ..!
It's like buying clothes or shoes without knowing your size ...
And if that seems unlikely or crazy about clothes and shoes, it's unfortunately very accustomed to lighting!
And if that seems unlikely or crazy about clothes and shoes, it's unfortunately very accustomed to lighting!
3) When the solution is.....problem!
The ban on alcoholism in America has once been to solve the problem of alcoholism. But it turned out to be the same much worse problem than everything it created (smuggling, idiots, gangsterism, illegality, murders, etc.)!
Something similar happens with the prevalence of spotlights. Everyone is calling for spots (mostly with LED lighting technology), as if the spots are a panacea !! And on the other hand, 9 out of 10 who visit me, with a problem in their lighting, have spots!
The spots are high intensity light beams and are NOT suitable for room lighting.
They create huge differences in luminosity, blinding dazzles, excessive shadows, diffuse illumination, visual fatigue with a lot of consequences.
In the kitchen they are also dangerous because they cause pauses in vision in an area where we handle knives, hot utensils,
Spotlights means a lighting spot and that's their destination, so they're made.
To emphasize points in an already enlightened space. Now why are they useless, they probably have to do with the next mistake...
4) Caesar's wife should not only be but also appear honest.
The question here is: Do you want your space to live or show him?
I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. But there are many who make their homes or workplaces, like theater scenes or museums, and forget that they live and / or work within them.
These spaces soon prove to be irritating, tiring, repulsive, distant.
Excessive shadows, scenery, lighting effects, beams, etc. are very nice in the first 10 minutes, but then they will make us unforgettable!
Homes and business spaces are not a sight or a better sight.
It needs a golden incision with functionality, otherwise the consequences of lingering worms!
5) The Pope's Pope or Couple's Couple.
Of course, this does not apply to lighting. Allegations of the kind of "we want a lot of light to be like a day" or, on the other hand, "we do not want much light, we like the atmosphere" are rigidities and extremes. And when at one end a "stupidity" dwells at the opposite end again a "stupidity" dwells.
The reason is it impossible to read a newspaper in the moonlight as it is impossible to relax under the light of the headlights. So ..?
The reason is it impossible to read a newspaper in the moonlight as it is impossible to relax under the light of the headlights. So ..?
Overpowering or under-lighting can not be choices! On the contrary, when they become reality, they are problems that need to be addressed.
The key word is "flexibility" in the illumination. So that we can tailor it to your needs. And if we need a lot of light to have it, and if we want an atmosphere we can lower it.
6) Fish soup with.....meat can not be made...
It is understandable that we can not make fish soup by boiled chicken, we must understand that every lamp has its destination in terms of light output.
It is made for one or two of the very specific types of lighting. It does not do all the work.
Many, however, swept away by the appearance or type of the luminaire expect or imagine illumination that the luminaire is not made to give. For example lighting pendants to illuminate spaces, general lighting floor lamps to read, spotlights for atmosphere, or wall sconces to light a picture.
Or with one or two luminaires waiting to achieve all kinds of lighting.
Or with one or two luminaires waiting to achieve all kinds of lighting.
The plethora of light fixtures on the other hand makes the problem even more intense and more likely the wrong choice. We need to clear up our needs and preferences and look for the right luminaires to cover them.
7) Other eyes of the rabbit and other of the owl ...
The market price is usually the most "decisive" but also the most "misleading" factor for the final choice.
Here is where most people confuse the expense with the cost.
This is because the cost of a lamp does not end with the cost of buying it. It has a future ...
Lamps like electrical appliances require installation, maintenance, cleaning, spare parts, power, heat, and in other words, require constant costs.
This cost is much more important than their buying charge, and it will quickly make us repent for a choice that has lured the cheap price.
8) The cheap meat eaten by dogs....
Here things are serious. Why the above unsustainable real cost of a cheap market can become tragic !!! Because cheap and good things only exist in fairy tales.
Therefore, a cheap market (or... opportunity!) Inevitably means cheap construction without any specification whatsoever. However, the luminaires are electrical appliances with high temperatures (eg 600 ° C with the iodine bulb) and can cause electric shocks or fires, turning the festoons and the opportunity at an unnecessary cost !!
The "unfortunate" housewife lost her life from a Chinese iron. Spending € 15, cost .. ?? !!!
It's amazing to see luminaires that are sold as much as 1-2 packets of cigarettes around!!! And there are people that buy them !!!
Really if you saw in your butcher fillet with 5 € a kilo, would you buy it?
9) Neither on the horse a saddle nor on the donkey saddle....
This mistake is very common and refers to the harmonious bonding of lamps with the rest of the furniture in the space. Both in terms of style and value.
As it is not harmonious to wear an English suit with flip flops or fur with sport shoes, the same does not place a paper luminary on top of a wooden luxury dining room, or on an expensive office a plate lamp!
It is worth mentioning that branded furniture generally requires the investment ratio to be in line with the practical rule 60-25-15.
That is, for every 100 € invested in each room, 60 € are for furniture and carpets, 25 € for lighting and 15 € for decoration.
On the other hand, the level and style of each space must go hand in hand with the level of lighting and vice versa.
10) Prices for brussels and cheap flour ...
This error refers to every effort to save energy.
It is of utmost importance in professional facilities, in offices and shops, outdoors where "inaccessible currents" over the destruction of the environment, gnaw our pocket.
At home, however, lighting consumption does not exceed 5% of the total electricity consumption. Therefore, what is needed is the "hidden" energy consumption.
The oven is equivalent to 20 floor lamps of 200W. The same is the 5-6000W water heater.
The coffee maker is 1500W, the 2000W iron, the 1200W hairdryer, the 3000W stove, the 1400W vacuum cleaner, the 2500W toaster and so on. What to light the lights?
Together, you have them lit - probably unlikely - they will not exceed the consumption of a 2000W grill! But as they seem, we all are called to turn them off not to burn. And we do well because the slightest energy saving for the planet is good.
It is enough at the same time that we have not forgotten lit the water heater .......
11) At first the light....
Most people who start building and equipping a home or a professional space tend to leave the lighting in the end.
This is a big mistake because they will end up or will not have the correct electrical installations or will have spent almost all their money so that for lighting - the most important factor that would make use of all their effort - are compatible with the solutions of the foot, insufficient and inappropriately literally bury their total investment !!!
Do not forget that God Almighty first enlightened the world and then "furnished it" ...So ....
12) Wise children before hungry cook ....
The right lighting is a documented decision-making that is taken at the beginning of each project and eventually integrated into its design.
Tactics of "seeing and doing" or "seeing along the way" are dangerous amateurs that are rare and have a happy ending.
We saw at first that lighting is a complicated process that can not be done at random.
A photometric study (ie a combination of all lighting parameters) is required by expert and friendly cooperation with all project stakeholders to determine the appropriate lighting pattern, budget, electrical installations, etc.
This avoids overshoots and moderates, and facilitates the entire construction, while control is effective in all phases, and the end result is right.
13) Bonus: If don't you know that you don't know, then you think you know ...
Everyone - except the pilots - we know that we do not know how to drive an airplane. Everyone - except surgeons - we know that we do not know how to do an operation. We are aware of our ignorance and we admit it and of course we do not dare it ...
Surprisingly in the light there are some who have ignorance of their ignorance so they think they know. These "self-help experts" express their opinion through every kind of media bombarding the consumer with wishes and wisdom ... "to take care of his illumination because he is very important" ... "to choose the right luminaires" .... "Looking to match the lights with ... the curtain rails or the knobs!" ... "to watch the lighting in general"
But how to take care, what to watch, how to fit, why and how to choose this or the other, .... chat! The rather absolute darkness ....
They often go in inaccuracies to say nothing else .... And rightly so, the consumer thinks that he knows too, so he has an opinion ... "Can not we say our opinion?" NO !!!
Because the question is not the opinion of anyone. It is the knowledge of the specialist .... Opinion can all have on any subject. But knowing they have few .... And I urge you to seek not opinion but knowledge ... The importance of proper lighting is admissible ....
If your space will be pleasantly comfortable or impressively attractive, or tiringly irritating, or repulsive depressing, it depends 100% on its lighting and its quantity and quality.
In all advanced countries it is recognized as the most important, perhaps the most decisive factor in the formation of a space. In particular, the professional is treated not as a cost of first installation or renovation, but as a productive and profitable investment ...
Panos Mathios
Lighting Consultant
luceHabitat
Lighting Consultant
luceHabitat
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