LIGHTING


David Navarrete


David Navarrete is a Lighthouse Fellow at The Centre for Conscious Design, as well as a member of The Center for Education at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) and The Center for Health Design. He is an evidence-based design-accredited (EDAC) science writer and speaker, currently serving as director of Research Initiatives and Education at Sky Factory, a fine arts and digital technology studio that leverages Neuroaesthetics in its design framework. The design and manufacturing company utlilises a fine arts framework, digital technology expertise, and cognitive psychology, to create evidence-based design, biophilic illusions of nature. David holds a


Certificate of Research Excellence (CORE) granted by the Environmental Design Research Association (2017). His essays on Cognitive Biophilia and The Restorative Impact of Perceived Open Space are available online at the NeuroArts Resource Center, an educational initiative spearheaded by the International Arts + Mind Lab, Johns Hopkins University, and the NeuroArts Blueprint.


Illusions of nature, HERD Journal Studies 2015.


change of scale – the ability to look at a much larger spatial footprint, either overhead or on the walls, yields the benefits of Prospect & Refuge, which facilitate cognitive restoration. The design team was interested in studying this type


of illusory installation for its effects on performance and emotional balance on subjects who, in long-term extraterrestrial missions, will spend years in a very small space, far from Earth’s sunrise-to-sunset arc. At the same time, the F+P design team was interested in an image- based lighting function called DiAL (Daylight intensity Algorithm) that modulates light intensity behind a sky illusion in a way that mimics how natural daylight varies in intensity throughout the day. The IRIS system is unique in that it incorporates correlated colour temperature changes and intensity variability within a virtual skylight system that generates a credible perceived zenith for isolated spaces. The multidisciplinary design team knew that one of the main reasons why working next to a real window view boosts mental acuity and attention restoration is thanks to daylight’s natural variability. Therefore, the ability to mimic these dynamic modulations within a perceived opening would enable astronauts to remap the zenith within their reduced workplace by subconsciously tapping a lifetime’s worth of spatial memories of Earth’s blue canopy. That is the inherent power of illusions; they tap into our physiology’s precognitive ability to measure space outside our conscious awareness.


Mammalian physiology According to neurobiologists, our mammalian physiology toggles between two Basic Rest Activity Cycles (BRAC). The nocturnal BRAC cycles through non-REM sleep and dreaming periods every 90 to 120 minutes, whereas our diurnal BRAC cycles through periods of focused attention and attention restoration. Our ability to focus is predicated on equally long, cyclical periods where our brain returns to a mode of operating that is called Default Mode Network, a monitoring state that is characterised by low brainwave activity that helps the brain recover from periods of high brainwave activity. Our brain defaults to attention restoration when we canvas our surroundings at leisure. Environments or lines of sight rich in hierarchies of scale and geometry with fractal sub-symmetries like abundant foliage, rock formations, forests, and natural features like mountains, lakes, and shorelines, all facilitate mental restoration. Gazing at a distance refreshes attention before we can return to a period of high brainwave activity (focused attention,


66 Health Estate Journal August 2025


concentration, planning). This is why illusory portals that capture a distant scene, either overhead or in front of the observer – at a realistic scale, activate areas of the brain involved in spatial cognition, and have a profound effect on human wellness. In conclusion, when combined with image-based tunable lighting systems, dynamic lighting systems can offer much more than circadian phase entrainment. These lighting systems can expand the perceived spatial footprint of clinical interiors that can potentially help mitigate the effects of burnout and emotional distress in crowded hospitals. Estates and facilities managers have a lot on their plates, but studying the specifications, published research, and applied case studies offered by key product developers and manufacturers in the field of lighting design could enable healthcare estates to test and deploy lighting schemes that can help mitigate the detrimental effect of stressed interiors.


References 1 NHS England. Delivering a Net Zero NHS. Greener NHS. 4 July, 2022. https://tinyurl.com/52cz4v7j


2 Light Up Energy News. What is the Average Hospital Electric Bill in the UK? Light Up Energy. 29 July, 2024. https://tinyurl. com/35v999d9


3 Fozzard K, Kelly E, Issa Z. The NHS Maintenance Backlog Rising Costs and Falling Investment. The Health Foundation. 20 December 20, 2024. https://tinyurl.com/yv55j74t


4 Powell, T, Baker C, Foster D. Capacity Pressures in Health and Social Care in England. U.K. Parliament, House of Commons Library. 16 July, 2024. https://tinyurl.com/u6e2shnv


5 Pati D, O’Boyle M, Amor C, Hou J, Valipoor S, Fang D. Neural Correlates of Nature Stimuli: An fMRI Study. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal. 2014; 7(2):9-28. https://tinyurl.com/65h4682w


6 Pati D, O’Boyle M, Amor C, Hou J, Valipoor S, Fang D, Navarrete D, and Witherspoon W. Neural Correlates of Nature Stimuli: An fMRI Study. Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Certificate of Research Excellence (CORE), Recipient Profiles, 2017. https://www.edra.org/page/2017_ Core_Recipients


7 Pati D, Freier P, O’Boyle M, Amor C, Valipoor S. The Impact of Simulated Nature on Patient Outcomes: A Study of Photographic Sky Compositions. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal 2015; 9(2):36-51. https://tinyurl. com/44zfz8tt


8 CIE S 026/E:2018. CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for IPRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. International Commission on Illumination 2018. https:// tinyurl.com/yc3k9rvk


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