Designing Interior Space with Indirect Lighting

About this Course

The IES offers Educational Webinars throughout the year, purposefully spanning a broad range of topics and speaker expertise. This was a live webinar, now available as an archived webinar and CEU course.

Description: Humans have evolved to prefer certain characteristics of light and interior spaces – we naturally gravitate towards and feel more comfortable in spaces that are coherent, that provide a clear view of how to move through them, that are well illuminated by full-spectrum light and where contrasts in light and colors are used to create emphasize what is most important, creating a visual hierarchy.

Indirect lighting makes use of the building’s interior envelope and volume to modulate, amplify, and balance lighting from various sources. A layered approach to the lighting of interior spaces, which incorporates a balance of direct and indirect lighting improves visual coherence and wayfinding; articulates and highlights architectural elements, and positively impacts health and productivity.

This course explores how indirect lighting can be used to improve the comfort level of a space and allow it to be used in multiple ways. Participants will learn lighting design techniques for optimizing the design of interior spaces by illuminating ceilings and walls, and by backlighting through translucent materials.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course learners will be able to...

1. Identify basic characteristics of light and how to apply them in interiors.
2. Apply examples from nature and basic behavioral principles to the design and lighting of interior spaces to improve how we experience interior spaces.
3. Recognize the four layers of light and their different functions. 
4. Analyze and apply basic techniques of interior indirect lighting design.