One radical project by Light Bureau involved illuminating a 700m-stretch of major road on the outskirts of Copenhagen entirely in red light
88 LIGHT + TECH LIGHT + TECH SEEING RED
The following schemes show different ways of using red, and warm temperature, light to powerful effect
If there is one colour in lighting that most people tiptoe round it’s red. The obvious connotation with the seamier side of life might be one reason (the semiotics of colour), especially in hotels. But it is also a bold, brash, in-your-face colour that in lighting terms needs judicious handling outside the nightclub. We can live with the blue tones at the other end of the spectrum, even in a working environment, but red can be, well, a bit much. But research in a number of areas has revealed hidden depths to red light. For one thing, it is thought to have less impact on nocturnal wildlife than white light. A radical project by Light Bureau, winner of a Build Back Better Award in 2022, involved illuminating a 700m-stretch of major road on the outskirts of Copenhagen entirely in red light. The area is home to several species of bats, and the scheme was developed following consultations with biologists and bat experts. In the UK, Worcestershire County Council also has a similar, smaller road lighting scheme.
And red light has been shown to play a significant
role in human health and well-being. According to leading circadian clock specialist Dr Martin Moore-Ede there may not be enough red in our lives, including infrared and near infrared light. ‘We live in an infrared-deprived world,’ says Moore-Ede, who as a Harvard professor led the team that located the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the biological clock in the human brain.
He cites the growing use of IR-blocking E-Glass in buildings and LED sources that have little deep red and no infrared, unlike traditional sources such as wood fires, candles and, more recently, incandescent lamps. ‘LED lights with added near-infrared in the 800-1,000nm range were shown to have a calming and relaxing effect compared
to LED lights without added infrared,’ says Moore-Ede. Research has thrown up numerous and diverse areas where deep red and infrared light have been shown to have beneficial medical effects. Near infrared light, for example, has been found to reverse the deteriorations of mitochondrial function that result from ageing and disease. A study on mice at the University of Pittsburgh published earlier this year found that exposure to 617nm red light could reduce the size of blood clots with implications for treating and preventing heart attacks and strokes. Another study has found that irradiating human skin with 670nm red light for 15 minutes can beneficially affect glucose tolerance.
But red light can also play a powerful aesthetic and atmospheric role simply because of its associations: it is the colour of fire and fierceness; it is stimulating and invigorating. There are different ways of using red, and warm temperature, light to powerful effect.
Designers of new ofices for a Canadian ad agency, for example, have used it as an accent, a foil to a muted colour scheme, a simple linear detail that implies energy and creativity.
YI.ng Lighting Design Consultants have applied it
along with amber light to evoke the red heat of industry at the Matsu Beigan Power Plant in Taiwan. It is reminiscent of the way Speirs Major Lighting Architecture used it many years ago in pioneering schemes for Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham, and Zollverein Kokerei in the Ruhr, Germany.
For one of SMLA’s latest schemes, it is the structure itself that is red rather than the lighting, but for both aesthetic and environmental reasons the white light is tuned to the red, long-wavelength end of the spectrum.
PHOTO: RUNE BRANDT HERMANNSSON
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