A Demonstration Unit for Human Centric Lighting

Abstract: The modern human being is exposed to different kinds of light during a normal day, both natural light and adjusted lighting. The idea that light affects us is uncontested, and so affecting the light in turn becomes a question of well-being. It is often thought that abundant and strong lighting is good lighting, but this is far from always accurate. Moreover, the light from a regular lightbulb is in this case often assumed as the perfect light, which is seldom the case since, among other things, it differs from natural light. The light bulb, and its lighting possibilities, spawned from a strictly technical solution to a rather straightforward problem – being able to see well enough to work, read, write, draw, etc. Today, however, we are capable of creating a light based on people’s needs, using technology to benefit the human mind and not the other way around. Good lighting can be adapted in more ways than just an on/off-button; being able to adjust intensity with a dimmer is a suitable first step. The next step would be to vary the composition of the light, allowing different colour tints to be amplified. A favourable light environment brings many benefits that, when it comes to life cycle assessment, often play a larger part than focus on energy consumption. Future by Lund (FBL) located at Ideon Innovation, has, along with a number of other organisations, been involved in projects involving dynamic light. Several installations with beneficial lighting have been mounted in schools, care homes, healthcare establishments and offices, providing a salubrious indoor environment for the people involved. Now they were looking to further extend the concept with fixtures designed specifically to be temporary, resulting in this master thesis. The project’s development gave rise to a concept of two different designs, each with two different possible installation methods.