Human-Centric Lighting Made Simple with Automation
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the key elements of human-centric lighting.
- Explain why human-centric lighting is important to occupant well-being.
- Appraise lighting fixtures for their ability to meet quality elements of human-centric lighting.
- Specify the control narrative/intent for a human-centric lighting design.
Credits:
This course is approved as a Structured Course
This course can be self-reported to the AANB, as per their CE Guidelines
Approved for structured learning
Approved for Core Learning
This course can be self-reported to the NLAA
Course may qualify for Learning Hours with NWTAA
Course eligible for OAA Learning Hours
This course is approved as a core course
This course can be self-reported for Learning Units to the Architectural Institute of British Columbia
Photo: Connie Zhou
Automated lighting and shading create a human-centric lighting experience for the occupants’ well-being.
EVOLUTION OF THE LIGHTING EXPERIENCE
Before the invention of electric lights, gas lamps, and candles, humans lived and worked under the natural rhythms of daylight. Daylight is a dynamic light source that changes daily (dark/light), seasonally (sunrise/sunset times), and within the day due to weather changes. This dynamic nature of daylight creates visual interest through color temperature, distribution, and brightness changes.
Firelight is the next natural light source in the evolution of lighting. This light source was not controlled until humans learned how to create and harness fire. It is a dynamic light source that moves, emits various warm tones, and provides a relaxing environment.
In the evolution of lighting, we will skip past many human-made light sources (candles, gas lights, carbon arc lamps, etc.) and go directly to one of the most beloved light sources, the incandescent lamp. This was the first standardized electric light source that allowed easy lighting control in homes or buildings with a simple switch.
Originally, lights could only be switched on or off, but eventually, dimming became an option. With dimming, people could warm dim the light, a natural feature of how the light is created (heating the tungsten filament). The incandescent lamp is capable of ultra-low light levels. Eventually, lighting needed to be more efficient because most of the energy from an incandescent lamp was output as heat rather than light.
The fluorescent lamp came in various form factors throughout its history. While this light source significantly improved energy efficiency, the light had many drawbacks. First, people often disliked the color quality of the light. The lamp startup was frequently slow, meaning it took a while for the light to get to full brightness (especially true in compact fluorescents). Finally, while the light sources could eventually be dimmed, fluorescent lamps did not warm dim, a key feature of the incandescent light. Nevertheless, the market shifted to fluorescent lighting due to energy savings, which was heavily marketed for its benefits, but many customers remained dissatisfied with the results.
The initial LEDs offered more significant energy savings than fluorescent lighting. These lamps did not suffer from slow startup, reaching full brightness immediately.
The challenges were color quality and dimming. The inability to warm dim persisted in the evolution from fluorescent to LEDs. Homeowners would unscrew an incandescent or compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and install an LED lamp on a dimmer, but the lamp would not operate as preferred─leading to flicker, drop out, and other challenges. As a result, standards have developed to aid in compatibility.
Today, the LED is the most prominent light source. It is more energy efficient than its predecessors, has better color quality, and more desirable features. LEDs can warm and dim, just like incandescent lights. Dimming is much easier today than it was a decade ago. Some of these light sources even add features such as tunable white or full color control (to be discussed later).
Daylight Intensity and Variability
Let’s look at typical light levels of interior and exterior environments to illustrate the variability in daylight conditions. Most recommended interior light levels are between 10 and 50 footcandles, while exterior daylight conditions vary between 500 and 10,000 footcandles.
This range of daylight conditions makes it particularly difficult to use passive (fixed) shading (i.e., overhangs, permanent glass tint, fixed louvers, light shelves, etc.) and have high performance throughout the day. An active, dynamic system is the only way to maximize daylight throughout the day/week/month/year. Designers can optimize natural light for a point on the scale of conditions but not for the entire scale.
Correlated Color Temperature (CCT)
Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) measures how warm or cool a light source appears. The higher the number, the cooler the light appears. Lower numbers indicate a warmer appearance.
The unit of measure for CCT is Kelvin (Kelvin is an absolute measurement, and not “degrees Kelvin”), as it is actually a description of the temperature that a black body emitter would have to be heated to glow a specific color (an example is iron heated by a blacksmith, or the tungsten filament of an incandescent bulb). Because of this relationship, the black body curve refers to the range of reds, oranges, and whites made when heating the black body emitter (e.g. the tungsten filament incandescent) to different temperatures (e.g. dimmed level).
While it is somewhat counter-intuitive that the higher Kelvin number is a cooler temperature, think of an incandescent lamp. As more power flows through it, it is at a higher temperature, and its color is cooler. As it dims down, lowering its temperature, the light gets warmer in appearance. For reference of this scale, an incandescent lamp will usually range from about 1600K to 3000K from low end to high end.
CASE STUDY: LIGHTING AND SHADING HELP REIMAGINE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Background: How does a global investment firm reimagine its corporate headquarters? For the BlackRock team, it started with an ambitious goal—co-locate its 4,000 New York City employees from three separate offices into a single, 1 million-square-foot headquarters in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, designed around one of the company’s core principles: “We Are One BlackRock,” a maxim that prioritizes working collaboratively and without silos.
To bring this vision to life, BlackRock curated an experienced design and construction team that recognized the critical role lighting and shading would play in making the entire space feel unified, comfortable, and adaptable. To meet today’s needs and tomorrow’s changing requirements, the proposed lighting control solution had to be smarter and more innovative than anything the team had previously used. A cloud-connected control system with wireless nodes, tunable white lighting, and automated shades proved to be the right fit.
Design Goals:
- Consolidate employees in a single New York City location to encourage collaboration and emphasize a unified culture.
- Establish an inclusive working environment that prioritizes employee well-being and comfort.
- Create an adaptive space that will serve BlackRock’s needs today and in the future.
- Design to prioritize energy reduction, limit material waste, and achieve LEED Platinum certification.
Photo: Connie Zhou
The design of BlackRock’s new corporate headquarters focused on one of the company’s core principles: “We Are One BlackRock.”
Challenges: Tasked with building out 15 stories in one of New York’s largest commercial office towers, the project’s sheer scale, combined with the desire for welcoming spaces within the overall framework, was a defining challenge for the design team. Inspired by New York City itself, architects at NBBJ likened each floorplate to its own miniature city, approaching the design like a scaled-down urban plan that balances group-work space and focus areas, mirroring the places of community and respite in Manhattan. Each “cityscape” had to work independently and within the comprehensive plan.
To make the most of the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows and abundant natural light, the integrated lighting and shading solution would need to draw natural light deep into the space while mitigating heat gain and glare. Glare was especially challenging since, in addition to standard sun glare, the proximity of other glass-façaded buildings causes sunlight to reflect back into the space at unusual angles throughout the day.
The system also needed to easily accommodate changes to layout and programming over time—continuing to deliver cutting-edge performance for years to come. “We [needed to create] a variety of spaces – open and enclosed, large and small – that are adaptable and flexible. I fully expect to walk in here five years from now and see something very different, but equally exciting, than what we have today,” explained Philip Pitruzzello, Managing Director, BlackRock. Finally, the project had to be completed on time and budget, no small ask during a global manufacturing supply-chain crisis.
The Solution: Investing in innovative wireless technology was crucial to delivering the right solution for BlackRock. The teams at One Lux Studio (the lighting designer) and J.T. Magen (the general contractor) chose a scalable, adaptable, and streamlined wiring system with a newly released wireless node to ensure performance, flexibility, and efficiency throughout the space. The wireless node is an ultra-small luminaire-level-lighting-control (LLLC) installed directly into the LED fixture, enabling lighting to be easily rezoned and reprogrammed—no rewiring required.
BlackRock has already taken advantage of this flexibility: “We’ve already gone through changing business needs, and the lighting control component has been seamless. We just reprogrammed the wireless switch on the walls and the fixtures,” said Barry Novick, Technology Strategy, BlackRock. “I think this project has actually changed the norm for what people expect from a lighting control system. It sets the bar higher,” says Barry Novick, Technology Strategy, BlackRock.
Stephen Margulies, Partner at One Lux Studio, agrees: “The big advantage to this job was that one wire that connects all the light fixtures is gone. All the addressing, all the programming—it all happens over the air [with the app].”
Choosing a wireless solution had sweeping effects on the job, specifically simplifying installation, which led to big labor savings and contributed to lower materials costs. “Using the wireless node saved us time and money; there was no need to pull additional wires which translated to significantly quicker installation time,” says Jay Rimatzki, Account Executive with J.T. Magen. Ultimately, over 9,000 wireless nodes were installed directly into a mix of downlights, linear luminaries, and pendants throughout the space, delivering tremendous flexibility and actionable energy and occupancy data while maintaining a clean, uncluttered ceiling.
Photo: Connie Zhou
The human-centric lighting system mimics the sensation of dynamic natural lighting throughout the space.
Democratizing Daylight: Tunable white lighting was installed throughout the open office areas and programmed to change with the time of day to support the occupant’s daily routines. Stephen Margulies of One Lux Studio describes the organic transitions, “You don’t notice it changing because it happens over time. We have four triggers throughout the day starting with the ‘morning’ scene as the offices open, fading to ‘afternoon’ at noon, and then to ‘evening’ half an hour before sunset. The ‘nighttime scene’ is triggered when they shut this place down, which might happen at 10 or 11 o’clock at night.” These scenes draw that natural-feeling light deeper into the floorplate so everyone works under light that feels right—whether they have a window seat or not.
In tandem with the programmed lighting scenes, shades on all windows adjust automatically over the course of the day, preserving access to city views while minimizing uncomfortable glare and solar heat gain. An important plus is that the shades move gently, and in unison, avoiding aesthetic distractions inside and outside the space.
“Daylight is really important. But bringing in daylight and allowing that daylight to penetrate all the way deep into the floors so that everyone has access to natural light was very important,” Novick says. “We have no perimeter offices or rooms on the general work floor, so everyone gets to enjoy the light. We call it democratizing daylight.”
Photos courtesy of Eric Laignel
Automated shades in the open position, 30 percent sheer, 60 percent sheer, and blackout. The setting depends on natural light, glare, and how the room will be used.
Results: The new, LEED-platinum certified headquarters goes beyond gathering employees together in a physical space. The design invites collaboration and connection, allowing employees to interact in the ways that work best for them. The goal of One BlackRock can be felt throughout the space, from small meeting rooms to the 400-person auditorium, to the show-stopping oculus at the top of the main stairwell that reminds employees they’re part of a larger whole, under the same stars and working towards the same goals as their global colleagues.
“We broke a lot of new ground in this building,” Novick says. “Lighting control is one of the many areas.”
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