Lumens and luxes in the office space

18 of November '22

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Trends in Lighting. From the series "Modern office buildings - trends 2022".

Market demands are driving trends. The last two years of pandemonium and now inflation and the energy crisis have accelerated the changes that have evolved over the last decade in the office real estate industry. How does lighting fit into the New Work concept, what is HCL, what do cloud solutions have to do with light, and how can lighting support green and economical building management? Tomasz Pluska - TRILUX Architecture Development Manager - talks about office trends 2022.

The New Work concept at its best

Our perception of office space has changed dramatically. It is no longer a place where employees spend 8 hours at their desks, but a platform for meetings, relationship building, a place for concentration or relaxation. However, according to CBOS statistics, the average working Pole still spends an average of 46 hours a week at work. Juxtaposing this with the average duration of Europeans' working lives, which is 36 years, it comes out of the calculus that we spend almost 2,400 hours on work throughout our lives. From such unoptimistic data, it is clear that the organization and design of professional space, is fundamental to daily functioning and our well-being. Meeting this challenge is the concept of the New Work, which encapsulates more than an expanded idea of work-life-balance. New Work binds together all aspects of today's work, such as hybrid or remote work, freedom to choose where and when to perform duties, a partner approach by managers or shorter working hours. The concept also influences the approach to the design of office spaces, which should not only be as informal and pleasing to the eye as possible, but also favor different work systems. Designers are creating special spaces for co-working or zones for quiet work. More and more greenery, game rooms and so-called chill-zones are appearing in offices.

An important element in a holistic approach to the workplace is light, which not only influences the perception of the space, but also differentiates zones according to the activity being performed. In a conference room, lighting, in addition to realizing the basic requirements of illuminance levels, uniformity or UGR glare index, should create a coherent whole in the interior and emphasize its often unique form. On the functional side, it should allow the selection of an appropriate scene, depending on the type of meetings held. During presentations projected on multimedia projectors, it is important to avoid illuminating the screen, which negatively affects the contrast of the projected image and worsens its readability. During creative meetings, for the same space we set a completely different scene, where the center is the people sitting at the table, and the surroundings are the background, which should not distract our attention. The relaxation zone, on the other hand, is a place where lighting is conducive to relaxation, so it should be soft and create a cozy, intimate atmosphere. In order to achieve such an effect, we use additional decorative lighting to complement the basic lighting, which gives the interior a unique character. In the co-working area, on the other hand, it is ideal to illuminate the space in an indirect way, i.e. with light reflected from the ceiling, which we supplement with spot light in the areas designated for meetings," discusses Tomasz Płuska, TRILUX Architecture Development Manager.

Human-centered light

Another trend closely related to the New Work concept is the Human Centric Lighting philosophy. Time spent in the office is spent working with artificial light, which, if poorly chosen, not only disrupts the human diurnal cycle, but also affects a decrease in efficiency, or in the other direction, over-stimulation. Human Centric Lighting (HCL) puts human ndobility at the center and draws on developments in technology.

Lighting based on the Human Centric Lighting philosophy - is an LED solution, putting human needs for light at the center. Developments in technology allow us to bring daylight into offices. Using the right lighting fixtures, managed by the LiveLink Premium intelligent system, we are able to bring indoor lighting closer to the sun's ideal and map its journey across the sky so that it does not disrupt the diurnal cycle. In the morning, we should start our work in warm light with a high admixture of red, which does not pull the body out of its nocturnal rest mode. By noon, there is usually an increase in the blue component of the light, which has an activating effect and reduces sleepiness, says Tomasz Pluska.

IoT - database and communication in the light cloud

Lighting has made huge strides since the days of the kerosene lamp! In an era of ubiquitous digitalization, the lighting industry is upgrading existing LED solutions with IoT (Internet of Things) modules that take luminaires to a level of new possibilities.

TRILUX luminaires connected via the Live Link Premium system create an intelligent lighting infrastructure management system. This makes it possible to remotely control and manage the office lighting system from an app from any device with Internet access. In addition, integrated modules, i.e. motion, daylight and_CO2 sensors, expand the capabilities of the system, allowing for additional functionality that positively affects the comfort of users and contributes to significant savings in electricity consumption. Our latest luminaire, TUGRA, has interchangeable terminations, enabling free and intuitive adaptation of intelligent modules depending on the needs of a given office space," explains the principle of communication of luminaires enriched with modules and IoT Tomasz Pluska.

Not just employee efficiency

A trend that has been dictated by both the energy and climate crisis is the pursuit of the best possible energy efficiency for lighting. The money that literally melts away with energy-intensive installations at current prices per kWh spends the sleep of every Facility Manager.

In pursuit of energy efficiency, in addition to using luminaires with very high efficiency, it is also crucial to implement a light management system. Thanks to the LiveLink Premium system I mentioned earlier, we are able to not only introduce employee-friendly light into offices, or monitor data collected with IoT modules. LiveLink Premium allows us to control and select lighting parameters in a way that minimizes electricity consumption. By integrating luminaires into a single network, we can manage lighting wisely and forgo artificial light when no one is in the room or when sufficient sunlight reaches the office space. Each kWh saved not only means a lower electricity bill in real terms, but also lower_CO2 emissions and a deeper breath for the planet, as well as a simple way to achieve an excellent score in BREEAM certification, adds Tomasz Płuska, TRILUX Architecture Development Manager.