Subject: Re: Office lighting

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Carpenter)
Date: 26 May 1995 16:56:21 -0400

>In response to the question about making a building with window film
>look "open", I would not suggest washing the inside of the glass
>with light.  What makes an interior space look open is surface
>luminance, and that means washing walls, ceilings, and vertical
>surfaces with light.  Make sure the finishes are light in color,
>then add some light to the surface through wallwashing, uplighting,
>wall sconces, valances, pendants, etc. etc.  What won't work is
>low-brightness downlights or recessed parabolics located so that
>their light doesn't strike any vertical surfaces.
>
>Washing the glass will not achieve surface brightness. Your watts
>are better spent on the walls and ceiling.
>
>Naomi Miller
>Lighting Research Center

I disagree that this will not work.  While I agree that surface illuminance
is important (thus the reason indirect works well), I don't believe it is
the ONLY solution.  Light transmission through glass is a bi-directional
phenomenon.  You can use daylight harvesting to add to the illuminance in an
interior space, thus you can also use light from the interior to add to the
illuminance of an exterior space.  GRANTED this is a waste of energy....who
wants to light the outside?  But in this case, that is the effect desired.
You may not necessarily want to actually LIGHT the outside but you DO want
light from the interior to be transmitted through the glass.  People from
the outside will see this light transmitted from the interior, just like you
can sense daylight through a windows.  From a street or sidewalk, interior
surface illuminance will not have an intensity high enough to be noticed
>from  outside at a distance, but intense light, directly at the windows will
be noticed and your effect will be achieved.  By the way Naomi...are you
>from  Rensselaer?
*****************************************************************
* Tip of the day:   RAM DISK is NOT an installation procedure!  *
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* Jeff Carpenter              email:  [email-masked]          *
* Des Moines, IA                      [email-masked]           *
*                                     75231,[email-masked] *
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From: [email-masked] (ExpertLt)
Date: 30 May 1995 16:08:23 -0400

Isn't lighting the outside from the inside sort of like RAM Disk as an
installation procedure?   I agree with Naomi.

Deb Witte
The Lighting Group, San Francisco