Psychological preferences for industrial lighting

Abstract

Traditional industrial luminaires possess little if any uplight component. As a result, ceiling surface luminances and in some cases wall luminances in industrial settings tend to be low, giving the overall environment a cave-like appearance. Although this type of lighting can provide the required quantity of light on the work surface, it does little to address other design issues including the psychological needs of the industrial worker. Can room surface brightnesses in an industrial environment affect an industrial worker's visual perception and sense of satisfaction with that environment? This study compared four commercially available industrial lighting systems, each with a different percentage of uplight. Actual industrial workers from various companies evaluated the systems in an industrial-like setting. Both a semantic differential scaling technique and a lighting-specific evaluation technique were used in the study. The results indicate a preference on the part of industrial workers for an environment with higher average room surface luminances. Impressions of spaciousness, brightness and stimulation correlated with an overall preference for higher surface luminances. The implication is that the psychological impact of lighting in the industrial environment should be an important consideration during the design process for industrial spaces.