The importance of lighting in interior design cannot be overstated. When designed properly, it clearly highlights the architectural features of a space and provides a comfortable, continuous experience for its users. Various types of indoor lighting exist, including direct, basic, and local lighting. The reasonable selection and application of lighting methods can effectively improve the lighting quality of a space and significantly enhance its artistic style.
Indirect lighting has become increasingly popular in recent years. It is a lighting art form based on the principle of reflected light sources. However, people's understanding of it is often insufficient. This article will therefore explain why indirect lighting is necessary for setting the right atmosphere.
What is Indirect Lighting?
Indirect lighting, also known as reflected lighting, is a special type of lighting. With this lighting method, the bulbs or tubes are not visible from the outside. The core feature of this method is that fixtures or light sources do not project light directly onto the illuminated objects. Instead, the light is reflected by objects such as ceilings, walls, floors, or mirrors to create the final lighting effect, resulting in a uniform, soft light and a slightly hazy aesthetic.
There are generally two ways to handle indirect lighting. One approach is to install an opaque lampshade at the bottom of the bulb to allow the light to be reflected from the ceiling or other objects, creating indirect lighting. The other approach is to place the lamp in a light trough so that the light is reflected from the ceiling into the room. These lighting methods are conducive to creating a simple yet sophisticated atmosphere. Common fixtures such as wall lamps, pendant lamps, floor lamps, and linear lamps can all be used to create indirect lighting.
The Difference Between Direct Lighting and Indirect Lighting
How light sources illuminate in space are diverse and varied, mainly divided into direct lighting and indirect lighting.
Direct lighting projects light in a single direction, which can not only meet the overall lighting needs of a space but also serve as local lighting to highlight key areas. Therefore, it is commonly found in large commercial spaces such as factories and offices that have high brightness requirements, as well as in home settings. Its advantage lies in the fact that the light source efficiency is over 90%, offering good energy-saving performance; however, the light it generates causes glare, leading to visual discomfort and making it difficult to create a relaxing atmosphere. To alleviate the glare, grid-like or strip-shaped metal partitions are usually installed on the lighting fixtures.
Indirect lighting focuses on creating a unique atmosphere in a space through reflected light sources, which is less likely to cause eye strain. It is suitable for spaces with lower illuminance requirements. Compared with direct lighting, indirect lighting is less likely to cause glare and makes people's eyes feel more comfortable. However, since the light source is concealed, it cannot fully illuminate the space. Therefore, indirect lighting requires more electricity than direct lighting to meet the basic illuminance requirements of the space.
Three Key Elements of Indirect Lighting
The quality of indirect lighting is determined by three factors:
- The distance between the light source and the illuminated surface
The light source and illuminated surface require an appropriate distance: insufficient distance affects light, leading to strong light-dark contrast, an unnatural appearance, and poor diffusion; excessive distance overly disperses light, causing insufficient light effect on the illuminated surface.
- The shielding angle of the light source
In the design of indirect lighting, the light sources need to be ingeniously concealed within various obstructions, such as custom light troughs, frosted lampshades, or ceiling voids, etc., to maximize the soft and diffused reflection effect. At the same time, to conceal the light source, it is also necessary to ensure that light is projected smoothly, sufficiently, and evenly onto the ceiling, walls, and other illuminated surfaces.
- The material properties of the illuminated surface
The material surface of the illuminated area should be flat, smooth, and matte, which is an important prerequisite for achieving a softer light effect. In addition, when designing, the texture and color of the material itself should also be taken into consideration. A fine texture can further enhance the softness of the light's diffuse reflection, while color will affect the tone and atmosphere of the reflected light. Both factors jointly contribute to the overall effect of indirect lighting.
How can Indirect Lighting be Applied in Different Spaces?
1. Resort Spaces
Hotels, hot springs, and health resorts are typical application scenarios for indirect lighting, often featuring circular, wavy, and other-shaped lamps. It is recommended to choose a color temperature of 2700K - 3000K warm light during design. For example, in hotel lobbies, wavy suspended ceiling lights can be used, leaving the middle of the ceiling open and hiding light strips around the perimeter. The light reflected from the ceiling will spread throughout the entire space.
- Cultural Spaces
In cultural spaces such as museums and libraries, indirect lighting can prevent direct damage to exhibits. For instance, in the calligraphy and painting exhibition area of a museum, light strips are hidden in the top light troughs, and the light is reflected by the display boards to illuminate the paintings. In the reading area of a library, diffused light strips are installed on the top of the bookshelves, and the reflected light evenly covers the desks, reducing reading fatigue.
- Residential Spaces
Bathrooms and kitchens, with their numerous reflective surfaces, are particularly well-suited to indirect lighting. For example, installing light strips behind bathroom mirror cabinets enables the light to reflect off the mirror, providing shadow-free illumination for grooming. In the kitchen, installing strip-shaped diffused lights under wall cabinets ensures the countertop is evenly lit by reflected light, preventing shadows from hands while cooking.
4. Office Spaces
The office can be divided into functional areas through indirect lighting. For instance, warm light strips hidden in arc-shaped light troughs in the tea room create a relaxing atmosphere for rest. In the open office area, light strips are embedded on the sides of the columns, with reflected light supplementing the desktop illumination and using soft light to define the public circulation routes and work areas.
Major Considerations for Indirect Lighting
- The installation of the light strips should be kept flat and straight to avoid "jagged light" and ensure uniform and beautiful lighting.
- The color temperature of indirect light and main light should be coordinated and unified to avoid conflicting situations, such as cold white (e.g., 4000K) and warm yellow (e.g., 2700K), maintaining the consistency of the spatial lighting effect.
- When designing indirect lighting, it is necessary to maintain the primary and secondary relationship of light, avoid overly uniform illumination, and ensure that the space lighting has a focus and a sense of layering.
- During the design stage of the light trough, cleaning and maintenance access ports should be reserved to facilitate the removal of accumulated dust in the future and ensure long-term lighting performance.
Indirect lighting has a wide range of applications in modern interior decoration, and LED lamps for indirect lighting are also gaining increasing popularity due to their cost-effectiveness. As a professional brand deeply engaged in the field of LED lighting, UPSHINE always keeps up with the development trends of energy-saving, health, artistry, and humanization in lighting. We strive to truly bring LED lighting into more indoor spaces. Welcome to follow us closely!
