Office Lighting
Office lighting plays a key role in creating a working environment that empowers people to function to the very best of their abilities. Lighting contributes to the principal needs such as performance, comfort, ambience and cost effectiveness. Productivity of the company rests on the capacity of the individual employees to work effectively; therefore offices today are designed to optimize performance. Lighting contributes to the physical comfort of the employees promoting a sense of well-being, safety and alertness. Lighting control is becoming increasingly important to offer flexibility and energy management. In the changing world, energy efficiency and conservation and green lighting concepts are becoming popular and getting adapted faster. Australian National Lighting have innovated many state-of-the-art products that support energy efficiency and minimize the impact on the environment.
Offices differ from one another in terms of structure and organisation and so do the requirements of lighting. Office lighting requirements differs between an open plan concept, closed room approach, meeting halls, lobbies, utilities, etc. Lighting control is becoming increasingly important to offer flexibility and energy management.
Conference and Board Rooms
Meetings, presentations, discussions and other group activities that are part of modern office culture happen in conference rooms or boardrooms depending on the level of discussion. A conference hall requires flexibility to suit the varying needs of the users.
Lighting Solutions
Activities in a conference room involve lectures and demonstrations, audiovisual presentations, and meetings which involve participants reading, writing, viewing materials and having discussions. The basic lighting system should be designed to provide the recommended illumination levels, and flexibility is provided by additional lighting options such as switching, task based luminaires, etc.
Brief
Conference and boardrooms, used for intra-company meetings and conferences with visitors or clients, must be functional, comfortable and flexible enough to accommodate groups of different sizes and different purposes.
Needs
Activities in a conference room involve lectures and demonstrations, audiovisual presentations and meetings which involve participants reading, writing, viewing materials and having discussions. The basic lighting system should be designed to provide the recommended illumination levels and flexibility is provided by additional lighting options such as switching, task based luminaires, etc.
Lighting solution
General lighting is provided with linear fluorescent lamps such as 850 / 860. This is used in conjunction with low glare mirror optics luminaires. General lighting can also be delivered by cove lighting 840 fluorescent lamps. Smaller conference rooms can be illuminated by down lights with compact fluorescent lamps.
Down lights with low voltage halogen lamps are used to provide supplementary lighting that is required during presentations, audiovisuals, etc. Where a white board is available, specific lighting for the vertical illumination on the board should be provided.
A lighting control system that provides scene setting using a remote control (infrared) would provide the flexibility that is required in a typical conference room.
Corridors
An area that is used to link departments or buildings. Corridors may also be used to display art or company awards.
Corridors offer excellent opportunity to economise on lighting design since there is no visually demanding work. They may also be designed to project the image of the office. General average illuminance levels for corridors range from 200 to 500 lux depending on the general lighting levels of the office.
Executive Office
An executive's office is where important decisions for the company are taken. Critical and confidential discussions take place. Important people such as customers and business prospects are frequent visitors to this office.
The executive's responsibilities involve making decisions on such important matters as employment policy, company profitability and general advancement of the company, as well as reading, writing and extensive use of computers. In executive offices, the recommended general illuminance level is 300 to 500 lux when task lighting is provided, and 500 to 750 lux when task lighting is not provided. Greater emphasis should be given for lighting up the space in such a way that it enhances the image of the office.
General Open Plan Office
The open office is the "production line" of an organisation. From account handling to order processing, the purpose of this office is to support the overall corporate objectives in an efficient manner building teamwork.
People working in today's open plan offices require very specific visual requirements depending on the tasks they perform. It is often necessary that the lighting be designed to encourage feelings of well-being and enthusiasm while obtaining optimal energy savings.
Brief
In climates like that of Australia, lighting energy usage has important implications for cooling load as well as those directly associated with illumination tasks. Quality lighting design and more efficient use of light play an increasingly important role in reducing electricity consumption and CO2 emissions. As there will be renewed and increased emphasis on energy efficiency, lighting is one service that can easily be realised more efficiently, at a relatively low cost with fast payback. A combination of energy efficient luminaries, lighting controls, and daylight harvesting was implemented at the new office building located at the corner of Queen Street and Dunning Avenue, Rosebery in NSW, Australia. This is a 12000 m2, 4 stories building with full height windows on all four sides. The most impressive impact on reducing energy consumption was achieved using T5 lighting technology.
Needs
The design brief was to design services as an energy efficient class A building. The largest component of electricity consumption in a commercial building is taken by the HVAC system. Air-conditioning plant size depends on the amount of heat gained by the building from solar transmission, people, equipment, and of course the lighting. Traditionally, air-conditioning designers allow 25W per square metre for this heat load from lighting. The goal of lighting design was to reduce this level by half or more, thereby significantly reducing the load on the HVAC plant, and hence its size and capital and running costs. While complying with the relevant Australian Standards, the lighting was to integrate with architectural design and create pleasant visual conditions with good task visibility, providing visual comfort for both paper and VDT tasks.
Lighting solution
The most energy efficient fluorescent lamp, the T5 high efficiency lamp was selected for the project in conjunction with the high frequency electronic ballast which increased the opportunity for energy savings. The Lamp and the gear were approved due to their specific advantage on energy saving, size and longer life of the lamp. The T5 28W/840 was chosen to suit the modular ceiling size. The colour 840 is a popular selection for offices in Australia since it provides neutral colour appearance with a pleasing colour rendering. Luminaire selection was dependent on photometrics, viz. the intensity distribution, utilisation factor, light output ratio (LOR), etc. Though wide beam, the excellent glare control quality exhibited by the luminaire was another vital element on the decision making process. A total of 1500 pieces were installed, making this one the largest T5 installation in Australia. Perimeter zone of each floor contains a daylight linked control system. This comprises standard luminaires with dimming HF (approx. 23% of the total) and ceiling-mounted photocell sensors.
Conclusion
The building has achieved a very low lighting power density of 9.3 W/m2. The reduced cost of lighting and HVAC results in a reduced energy bill to the tenant Tech Pacific. The T5 system alone has demonstrated excellent results in terms of absolute energy efficiency (W/m2) and illumination efficacy (maximum W/m2/lux). When combined with the daylight linked controls and dimming electronic ballasts, the total lighting system has proven to be superior to other options.
Reception and Lobby
Reception and lobby are considered to be the "business card" of an office. Representing the image of the office, this is a multi-functional area where visitors are welcomed, registered and where they wait for their appointments.
Brief
These are the 'visiting card' of the facility. First impressions are therefore very important, and the lighting should help create the image that the office wishes to project.
Needs
The attention of visitors should first be attracted toward the reception desk, perhaps by increasing the illuminance in this area. The waiting area facilitates typical visitor activities such as gentle reading, some writing and telephoning. In some cases, companies utilise the lobby area as a showcase for their products and services.
Lighting solution
The entire area is split into smaller segments for addressing the lighting needs. Reception desk, seating area for visitors and display of products are illuminated with higher lighting levels. Luminaires used are down lights with metal halide lamps for large areas or down lights with compact fluorescent lamps for smaller areas. A decorative suspended fluorescent system on top of the reception desk is also a good technique. Where there is no false ceiling, decorative luminaires are employed. The lighting levels required for these areas range from 300 to 500 lux.
The circulation areas are illuminated with similar lighting systems, that provide however a lower lighting level. Cove lighting would give an uplift to the area. Halogen down lights are provided to highlight the pictures, flower pots, etc.
