Interior Lighting and Decoration by Fluorescence

Abstract

NEW effects in interior decoration have been obtained recently by using fluorescent paints and ultra-violet lamps. In the Hawaii Theatre opened in the early summer in Hollywood the whole of the walls and ceilings have been covered with fluorescent paint. When cinema pictures are shown the ultraviolet lamps are switched on, but no other illumination is used. The whole auditorium then seems to be bathed in ‘shadowless moonlight’ and the walls appear to have receded. The audience has the impression of sitting under a deeply luminous blue Hawaiian night sky with brightly glowing stars. In earlier attempts at interior decoration by fluorescence, blues and greens preponderated to give only a limited range of colours. A sufficient number of paints, twelve in all, has now been developed so that landscapes can be painted on the walls. A panel of Mount Manua Loa spouting fire and smoke gives the impression of many miles in distance. The fluorescent materials can be had as either solid paints or transparent varnishes. White fluorescence is obtained by applying two complementary colours, such as a red and a green, so that at a distance from the surface the light mixes well enough to give an effect of white light. The transparent varnishes are invisible in ordinary light.