Subject: Re: International Lighting

From: [email-masked] (Michael Donn)
Date: 7 Nov 1995 14:28:46 -0500

At 09:38 AM 11/6/95 -0600, you wrote:
>
>Hello,
>
>Can anyone help me?  I'm doing a paper in my Advanced Lighting course
>with Dr. Belcher at the University of Kansas.  I'm  interested in the
>differences of lighting designs in three major regions of the world,
>Japan(Asia), France and Germany(Europe), and the U.S.  I assumed that
>there would be some obvious reasons for the different lighting designs
>such as cultural, economic, and standards, although it is difficult to
>support my assumptions.

Well, here goes: I feel somewhat wary of stepping into these waters
they promise to be very deep! However, your query, while interesting, needs
 clarification. I understand from the end of your note that you are particularly
 interested in the cultural differences in light(ing) use. My first
suggestion would be
 that you concentrate on ONE aspect of the triad of cultural, economic and
standards
"reasons" for differences that you suggest in your opening paragraph above. One
alone is likely to be sufficient for any graduate paper that I can think of
- in fact
the cross cultural issues could easily be expanded into a PhD or two?

The more i think about your subject, the more I worry that we do not know
enough to be able to do more than posit a rough guess. I wonder whether a
Delphi survey of
a range of volunteer professors from the light@garnet list would not be a
better way of at least "organising" the opinions that you are likely to be
gathering?

Let me illustrate: I (like a number of others in the lighting area) am fond
of starting
my lighting course for interior designers with the psychophysics: photopic
response
curves for the human eye and performance versus illuminance curves for simple
tasks like the landolt ring test are great experiments to engage and involve
the
attention. We all use these as starting points for then talking about the
illuminance
levels in codes and standards. At this point, I am wont to point out that the
decision about what level of light to select as the minimum for a particular
task is mostly an economic one: one balances the cost of electricity and
lighting
equipment against the performance / error rate that is judged to be acceptable.
One often finds coda in standards which suggest that one should move up to
the next
level of illuminance of the task, if the "risk" from making a mistake is high.

To my knowledge, the response curves that we use to base these economic
decisions
on are drawn from one or possibly two Western countries' laboratory
measurements.
We assume they are universal, and largely unaffected by the lifetime one may
have spent in a different culture. But, we don't check this assumption. So
there may
be two confounding variables here: the differing economic decisions made by
each country in setting minimum performance through codes or deciding on
 standards of good design and the differing culturally derived expectations of
light.

My suggestion? limit yourself to one area that is simple to examine. The recent
discussion on id-forum of the cultural differences in reactions to colour may
give a lead here: what about looking at something really easy to isolate and
try to
see if there are differences: survey a range of asian and non-asian restaurants
in downtown Lawrence? Try to see whether the restaurants  which serve the
local asian community have lighting differences to their similar price range
 counterparts which do not. Make your own observations and talk to the owners.
Depending on the size of town, you may even be able to discern more subtle
differences between vietnamese/chinese on one hand and french/italian on the
other?

Whatever you find, I would be interested to hear about, as I have been
intrigued by
 your query.

Mike Donn

>  I've asked different professionals in the
>lighting industry about their knowledge of this topic, but many have
>given me varying opinions such as...
>
>Professor Moeck, Illuminating Engineering professor here at KU, has told
>me that Europe tends to adopt new technological advances more easily
>although cost of living and energy costs are much higher.  He also said
>that European codes are much stricter; therefore, lightin design
>standards are higher.  Last he stated that most importantly,
>manufacturers produce a wider variety of lamps and luminaires to choose
>from in Europe; therefore, designers have more flexibility to design.  I
>also noticed when I was in France that in common places such as the
>residential dormitory that I stayed in and the local small restaurants,
>there was a much more common usage of contempory lighting products such
>as MR-16's and timers and dimmers.  This was not common only to the big
>cities such as Lyon or Paris, but also in small towns.  I was curious to
>why this might not be so common in America?
>
>On the other hand Jason Gill, a recent grad of KU who is currently
>working for Fisher Morantz Lighting Designers of New York, stated that
>European codes are not as strict as American codes.  For instance, their
>fire codes are not as strict, and don't require enclosed boxes for
>wiring, thus giving designers more flexibility.  He also added that most
>Asian countries, except for Japan, Korea and others, are not as
>developed and don't usually pay the extra price for quality lighting.
>
>Dr. Belcher, stated in an article on cultural influences in lighting,
>that France has lower illuminance requirements.  I also noticed that
>while I was in Europe.  Most French people preferred less light even for
>task lighting, and actually utilized more daylighting(a personal favorite
>of mine).
>
>In my opinion, I thought that the examples of Japanese lighting designs
>were very interesting for their usage of advanced control systems while
>maintaining a poetic theme.  Of course other Asian countries don't show
>high-tech standards because of economics, but I am interested in the
>cultural influences in lighting.  Being Asian,  this is of particular
>interest to me.
>
>If you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas that may guide me in my
>research, please send a reply.  Your time is greatly appreciated.
>
>
>Le Nguyen
>Illuminating Engineering student                        2112 W. 15th
>University of Kansas                             Lawrence, KS  66049
>[email-masked]                               (913)842-5662
>
>
>
>
>
__________________________________________________________________________
=============================================================
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[email-masked]
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510 486 7079
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CURRENTLY ON SABBATICAL LEAVE AT           www      http://www.arch.vuw.ac.nz
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---

From: [email-masked] (Charles Troxell)
Date: 7 Nov 1995 18:12:54 -0500

>support my assumptions.  I've asked different professionals in the

Le Nguyen
UK Lighting Student.

Hi Le Nguyen,
My thoughts are that first, the insurance companies in the US through
Underwriters Labs dictate much as to how we wire and light a space.  UL
support by the insurance companies of course is a measure of profit ability
for the sponsor.

It makes sense that in as much as the US codes are dictated by UL that they
be safe to the extreme.  (ie) Thermal Sensors in recessed housings, IC
housings for insulated ceilings and the like.  Much of this has cost the end
user an escalated cost for his system or really? Has it been a saving in the
form of a reduced insurance premium.

Also, in the US, every electrician fancies himself a "lighting designer."  I
have in excess of 30 years with the likes of electricans and I know what
horrors they can invoke.

I noted while in Australia last year the use of many MR 16 sources, I liked
it. Additionally the use of CFL's was heavy.  Again my reaction was
favorable.  This likens to a very uniform lighting job.  Lots of small
sources each doing it's job.  While at the IES ANZ convention, many
manyfacturers, both European and Asian were showing their wares as far as
ballast and transformers were concerned.  The options as far as transformers
(mostly solid state) were far better than we have in the US.

Hope my comments might help,
Sincerely,
Charles Troxell

Charles Troxell, MIES
Lighting Images Technology
11301 Perdido Court
Midlothian, VA. 23112

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