More Individual Light, Please!

In Europe, the planning of offices is governed by a litany of standards and guidelines. But where lighting is concerned, users' individual preferences, work-related requirements, and employees' emotional well-being are as important as technical specifications.

Zumtobel, a supplier of integrated lighting solutions, and the IAO Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering are currently investigating this issue in a long-term global study entitled "The Light. Global User Study on Perceived Lighting Quality in Offices," for which so far 2,643 office workers from Europe, Asia, Australia, and the US have been interviewed. Although the study will continue until the end of 2014, the initial findings already make for stimulating reading.

The aim of the study (and by the way, you can still join in!) is to find out what sort of lighting in the office is perceived as particularly pleasant. This information will then be used to draw up a global "map of light" providing details of what lighting arrangements are best suited for particular individuals in specific situations.

Hardly surprising

The findings are hardly surprising when we bear in mind how we work best. The majority of the respondents prefer individually controllable LED lighting with a variable color temperature, a blend of direct and indirect components (82.5%), and illuminance exceeding 800 lux (60%) -- a preference which declines with increasing age -- even though office workers find 500 and 800 lux to be the most pleasant at their desks.

In addition, the majority of users favor lighting that can be flexibly adapted to different tasks. Interestingly, color temperature preferences have been found to vary widely between 3,000K and 6,000K, with 4,000K and 5,000K easily the most popular.

Artificial light isn't needed just in the winter, when 60% of respondents use more than seven hours of artificial light -- 33% said they used this amount of artificial lighting in summer, too. The reason is that many office workers (61.2%) don't sit near a window. Accordingly, daylight and artificial lighting must be organized with their needs in mind.

Honored in the breach

Unfortunately, 57.4% of the respondents said they had no or only limited ability to adapt the lighting in their office to their needs. This is a shame, because using a smart, daylight-controlled LED lighting system wouldn't just solve this problem, it would also save energy. Moreover, the study showed that innovative lighting solutions that are smart and individually controllable actually boost employees' health and well-being.

Although the study is still underway, given the large number of participants, the preliminary findings are already representative and certainly very thought-provoking. The provision of light for each visual task, tailored to the circumstances of each room, is something which is still neglected in offices around the world. One reason for this could be that good lighting solutions are still hard to find. Furthermore, many business owners balk at the prospect of investing in good, employee-controlled lighting. We can only hope that this study, once it's completed at the end of the year, will prompt a fundamental rethink.