Modern office lighting: types and standards

Technical regulation of office lighting

Office lighting standards and requirements are recorded in such documents as SNiP and SanPiN. The following documents are currently relevant:

• SNiP of 23.05. 2010 on “Natural and artificial lighting”,
• SanPiN 2.2.1-2.1.1.1278-03 on “Hygienic requirements for natural, artificial and combined lighting of residential and public buildings”.

For office lighting, the standards are the requirements for the illumination of a horizontal surface located one meter above the floor, located next to the employee's workplace.

The degree of illumination of a room is measured by a device called a lux meter.

In addition to the degree of illumination, SanPiN describes the following lighting standards in office premises:

• Light pulsation coefficient. It should not exceed 15% for regular workstations and 10% for workstations where precision work is performed.
• Color temperature.
• The ratio of minimum to maximum illumination in one room is the uniformity of illumination.
• The ratio of illumination on different planes, horizontal and vertical - contrast.
• Specific energy consumption of the system.
• Color rendering (its quality).
• The degree of blinding from excessively bright rays falling into the employee's field of vision - glare.

Light sources for offices

Technical standards for office lighting should be taken into account when choosing light sources. Today, LEDs and fluorescent tubes are used as color sources in office premises. Moreover, fluorescent lamps have been almost completely replaced by LED analogs. The reason is that LEDs are both cheaper and superior to fluorescent tubes in color rendering.

The use of metal halide color sources is limited by their energy efficiency and the height of ceilings in office premises. To ensure the level of illumination within the norm, they should be located at a height of 6-8 meters above the calculated plane. Such ceiling heights are not typical for office premises, so they can sometimes be seen in the central lobbies of large corporate buildings.

Types of luminaires for office premises

All luminaires for lighting office premises that are used today can be divided by features:

1. By type of design. Among office equipment, raster and linear models are the most popular. They have the following advantages over other models and are divided into devices:

    

   • Direct light devices,

   • Reflected light devices,

   • Mixed and direct-reflected light devices,

   • Modular systems,

   • Downlights,

   • Track lights,

   • Table lamps,

   • Fixtures with surface-mounted matte lampshades of the "tablet" type.

2. By installation method. Depends on the type of ceiling and its height, according to this feature, IS are divided into:

    

   • Built-in IS, they are designed for cutting into ceiling panels.

   • Suspended IS, they are used in rooms with high ceilings.

   • Surface-mounted IS.

3. By function. Lighting equipment does not have a clear division, since office lamps can perform several functions at once. Only specialized emergency lighting equipment should be singled out by function.

Types of office lighting

The main types of office lighting are:

1. General or ambient lighting. The task of general or ambient lighting is to ensure uniform distribution of light flows throughout the room. To solve this problem, it is important:

   • correct placement of lamps above the surface by height.

   • blocking some light spots from other lighting fixtures.

   • using lamps with diffusers.

2. Local. The tasks of local lighting are to compensate for the lack of illumination and contrast in the workplace. It is implemented using the same devices that are included in the general lighting. Lighting fixtures are often mounted using extended suspensions.
3. Decorative. Such lighting in administrative and office buildings can perform the following functions:

   • Makes the office interior unique.

   • Helps promote the company brand.

   • Structures the space, making navigation through the office space more obvious, highlighting certain areas.

4. Emergency or evacuation lighting. Mandatory use in rooms larger than 60 m2. Its task is to ensure sufficient visibility when people leave the premises if the general lighting is lost. The evacuation route must be illuminated along its entire length, areas where the direction of movement changes and exits and entrances must have emergency light signs with appropriate infographics.
5. Light scenes – is a set of identical lamps that perform a common function. A lighting scenario is a set of lighting scene settings. For example, in an office, you can implement several scenarios by turning on individual groups of lamps and changing their direction, focusing the streams and their color temperature. For example:

   • Work scenario (using workstation lighting).

   • Negotiation scenario (highlighting the negotiation area using lighting).

   • Relaxation scenario (configured by changing the color temperature of the lighting and reducing illumination).
   

How to light office zones

Lighting of office premises of different layout types is built taking into account the requirements for zones with different functions:

• workplaces,
• rest areas,
• meeting rooms,
• halls and vestibules,
• reception area.

Lighting of workplaces affects not only the health of the staff, but also the motivation and creativity of the team. The illumination standards for workplaces are 500 lux. In addition to compliance with the standards, when setting up lighting, it is necessary to take into account the direction of the light flows, as well as the location of computer monitors, because if the background horizontal light flows exceed 200 lux, this will interfere with work. The problem of background glare is easiest to solve by correcting the layout of the room. We must not forget about the color temperature of the light in the work area; neutral and moderately cold lighting, from 3000 to 5000 K, is considered optimal.

Lighting in recreation areas should be characterized by the absence of glare, diffused light fluxes and a moderate level of illumination with rays of the warm spectrum of the IS. This effect can be achieved using IS models with matte lampshades.

Negotiation rooms should be equipped with IS that can create moderate-brightness lighting in warm tones. However, it is necessary to provide for an increase in the illumination level to 500 - 700 lux in cases where it is necessary to familiarize yourself with any documents during negotiations.

Lighting in office halls can be purely decorative or image-related. The main thing is to provide this area with 200 - 700 lux. 300 lux, which are required by regulations.

The reception area performs the following functions that must be implemented using lighting scenarios:

• Attracting visitors,
• Providing sufficient lighting for employees to work,
• Promoting the company brand.

To illuminate these areas, top-level pendant lights are usually used, which perform a functional and decorative function, and to illuminate employee workstations, desk lamps are installed, hidden from visitors by the counter. The types of office lighting equipment are selected for a specific task and taking into account the architectural features of the project.

Energy saving in office lighting

Energy saving in office lighting is a pressing issue, you can save on electricity using the following technical and architectural solutions:

• Proper room planning makes it possible to use natural insolation to the maximum, and accordingly reduce energy costs.
• Using LEDs. The transition to LED lamps will pay for itself economically in less than a year if the team works in one shift.
• Using presence sensors will help save on electricity, it is advisable to install them in such rooms as the office kitchen, bathrooms, storage rooms, and break rooms.
• Installing dimmers that regulate the brightness of lamps will help optimize costs by regulating the lighting level of workplaces.
• Timely cleaning of lampshades, reflectors, and cooling radiators from dust will also help to avoid energy overruns. Dusty lampshades transmit less light, so the control system increases the power consumption of the IC. This leads to significant energy overruns.

Office Lighting Control

The lighting system control must ensure its operation according to the specified parameters, accordingly, its circuit must provide feedback. The use of light sensors is the most common method of such communication.

The control of an office lighting system should have the following options:

• Centralized manual control with control instruments located in the switchboard.
• Distributed manual control, in which each group of luminaires is controlled by a wall switch.
• Autonomous automatic (individual luminaires are controlled by sensors included in the device).
• Centralized automatic.

Lighting errors

Errors that can be made when designing and installing a lighting system:

• Too much illumination or its lack, resulting from an imbalance between natural and artificial insolation.
• Using LED lamps that have been in operation for more than three years may result in a decrease in power due to degradation of the working elements.
• The layout of the LEDs and their division into groups does not correspond to the layout of the room. Installation of local lighting fixtures, which cast a shadow on the desktop.
• Use of lighting fixtures with poor color rendering in offices of specialized companies: advertising agencies and printing houses.
• Glare on monitors from light from window openings.
• Inability to save electricity when workstations are not fully loaded.
• Lack of individual light control at multifunctional workstations.

Design of office lighting

Requirements for lighting of office spaces should be taken into account when drawing up design documentation. The preparation of this document should be entrusted to professionals who know the features of office lighting equipment, correctly calculate the number of lamps and their location.

Office lighting design occurs in several stages:

• Meeting with the customer and inspection of the office premises. At this stage, all design documentation and layouts are studied.
• Drawing up a technical assignment with a description of technical parameters.
• Selection of lighting equipment, assembly of the necessary switching and control equipment, routing of cable networks.
• Providing the customer with the result in the form of installation diagrams, specifications, operating instructions, estimates, energy consumption calculations.