EDUCATION & STUDENT FACILITIES
A MORE ILLUMINATING LEARNING SPACE
Chris Anderson, Technical Manager at Ansell Lighting, discusses the key aspects of lighting in educational spaces, highlighting the benefits of thoughtful design and the latest advancements in lighting technology.
Proven to boost staff and student performance, motivation, and wellbeing, good lighting design is crucial for creating environments that support educational goals.
As a facilities manager, ensuring that educational environments are safe, operated in line with legal requirements, and optimised for both teaching and learning is a key responsibility. One crucial element in achieving this goal is the strategic use of lighting, which can significantly impact student performance, teacher productivity, and overall comfort within educational spaces.
Lighting has an important impact on the brain's ability to focus. It is one of the biggest influences on our circadian rhythm or 'body clock', helping to regulate basic functions such as the sleep-wake cycle and feeling hungry. Varying lighting colours and tones can also affect mood. For example, people exposed to cooler light feel more alert and productive, while warm lighting can promote creativity and problem-solving.
In a primary school setting, where the majority of time is spent in a single classroom used for everything from reading and writing to art and craft, a good lighting system should be adaptable and offer dynamic control, allowing a variety of different colour, brightness, and settings to be implemented according to the activity taking place.
As children move through the education system, their needs and the lighting requirements of the built environment change. Secondary schools have a diverse range of spaces, all of which have individual lighting requirements—from science laboratories and media labs to sports halls and study rooms, the required fittings, brightness, and colour temperature will vary from space
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to space. Again, having a lighting system that offers adaptability and ease of control is key, enabling settings to be easily changed as required.
There is no 'one size fits all' solution when it comes to lighting in educational settings, but there are a number of definite requirements that should be included. Ensuring that lighting is low glare is a must, so UGR<19 fittings are essential, ensuring visual comfort whether users are working at desks, on computers, or looking towards the walls.
Controllability is also essential, allowing for variations in colour, colour temperature, and brightness to produce the array of different scenes required to set the mood and deliver the desired working environment. Lighting standards also dictate that fittings should be dimmable, achieve 300 lux during the day, 500 lux at night, and have a minimum IP rating of 40.
One technology that can deliver all of these requirements in one is smart lighting. From brightness to colour temperature, creating specific scenes and setting periods of operation, it provides complete control over lighting settings, whilst also ensuring the optimum amount of electricity is in use.
Room occupancy detectors such as PIR sensors are also particularly useful in spaces such as corridors, stairways, and communal areas and are a great addition to smart lighting systems. Ensuring that lighting is only in use when rooms are occupied, they automatically turn off fittings, conserving electricity when they are vacant.
https://ansell-lighting.com/en
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