Randall Whitehead: Lighting Expert
Randall Whitehead is an internationally-known architectural lighting designer based in San Francisco. He is not only a prolific author, but an enlightening and humorous speaker on the world of design as well. His work has appeared in Architectural Digest, Outdoor Design & Living, House Beautiful, Kiplinger’s, Horticulture magazine, Designs for Living, Metropolitan Home, the Journal of Light Construction, Better Homes and Gardens, and many more.
Randall appears regularly as a guest expert on the Discovery Channel, CNN, HGTV, and Martha Stewart Living Radio. He also writes a monthly column called “The Last Word in Lighting” for Residential Lighting magazine, answering homeowner’s and designer’s questions on lighting.
Randall has written seven books on the subject, including Residential Lighting, A Practical Guide which is an informative... and entertaining reference book for home and garden lighting. His latest hardback takes him back to his photography roots. It is a compelling collection of images called Lost Dolls: The Hidden Lives of Toys.
Randall appears regularly as a guest expert on the Discovery Channel, CNN, HGTV, and Martha Stewart Living Radio. He also writes a monthly column called “The Last Word in Lighting” for Residential Lighting magazine, answering homeowner’s and designer’s questions on lighting.
Randall has written seven books on the subject, including Residential Lighting, A Practical Guide which is an informative... and entertaining reference book for home and garden lighting. His latest hardback takes him back to his photography roots. It is a compelling collection of images called Lost Dolls: The Hidden Lives of Toys.
REVIEWS
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As a home owner, you may not feel a need to incorporate exterior lighting as a part of the overall lighting design for your residence. In reality, the illumination of exterior spaces can directly relate to how the interior areas are perceived. One of the great benefits of exterior lighting is that it can visually expand the interior rooms. When there is no illumination outside, windows become highly reflective at night. This is known as the “black mirror” effect. The windows end up reflecting the lights in the room, so that all guests can see at night is their own reflection instead of the view beyond. People can often feel boxed-in at night when they are surrounded by these black mirrors. The rooms can seem smaller than they actually are. The rule of thumb is to try to balance the amount of light inside and outside the house. This allows the windows to become more transparent, as they are during the day. Psychologically, people also feel safer when they can see the yard area around them. They feel more vulnerable inside the house when there is no lighting outside.Read More »
Landscape Lighting Defined:
Landscape lighting needs to be subtle. Attention should be drawn to the plantings, sculpture, and outbuildings, not the light sources themselves. Decorative exterior fixtures, such as lanterns, can’t do the job alone. They can easily overpower the facade of the house and the yard area if they are the only source of illumination. Typically, you will see two lanterns flanking the front door and maybe a post light at the end of the driveway. These just become disturbing hot spots that leave everything else in silhouette. Still, they play an important role in the overall lighting design. Their job is to create the illusion that they are providing all of the exterior lighting, when in reality they should have no more than 25 to 40-watts worth of illumination. They serve the same purpose as interior decorative fixtures. Think of them as architecturally jewelry. But visually, they should be more along the lines of a subtle pair of pearl earrings rather than a diamond-encrusted tiara.
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When designing the lighting for your home, you should start by learning the “language of light.” Don’t be intimidated. There are only four words to learn: decorative, task, accent, and ambient. All electric lighting falls into these four categories. Once you have these terms down, then working out the lighting for any of the rooms in your house becomes much less overwhelming. There is no one light fixture that can give you everything you need to illuminate a room properly. The trick is using a variety of light sources to create a flexible, inviting space. This is what is referred to as “light layering.” These categories are also referred to as the four functions of light. Here is a list of what they are and what it is that they do:Read More »
Decorative
These are what I like to call “architectural jewelry.” Their only purpose is to look pretty. They add sparkle to a space. Chandeliers, exterior lanterns, and candlestick-type wall sconces fall into this category. They should not be used as the work horses for lighting a space. When they are too bright they can visually overpower the other elements of the design. Subtle is the way to go when thinking about decorative lighting.
Task
Lighting by which you do work, such as the under cabinet lighting in the kitchen, reading lamp next to a chair, lighting in your closet, and lighting at the bathroom mirror for applying makeup or shaving.
Accent
Lighting used to highlight objects in a space. This adds depth and dimension to an environment. Recessed adjustable fixtures, track lights, portable uplights and directional landscape lights all fall into this category.
Ambient
This is the gentle fill light for a room. It softens shadows on people’s faces and fills the volume of the space with a warm glow, as if the room was being filled with the light of a roaring fire. Ambient light comes from illumination that is bounced off the ceiling. Such sources as opaque wall sconces, torcheres, pendant hung indirect fixtures, and cove lighting can be used to create the ambient light.
The Bottom Line
By layering these four functions of light together, you can create an environment that welcomes visitors into the space, while providing usable light for day-to-day activities. Getting a feel for these terminologies will get you on the right path to understanding how light can work for you.
The Best Decorative Lighting:
Light fixtures such as chandeliers and table lamps work best when they are used to create the sparkle for a room. They alone cannot adequately provide usable illumination for other functions without overpowering the other design aspects of the space. Think of them as the “supermodels” of illumination. Their one and only job is to look fantastic. For example, a dining room illuminated only by the chandelier over the table can create a “glare-bomb” situation. As you turn up the dimmer to provide enough illumination to see, the intensity of the light from the decorative fixture causes every other object to fall into secondary importance. The wall color, the art, the carpeting... and especially the people are eclipsed by this supernova of uncomfortably bright light. No one will be able to appreciate any of the other elements in the room, no matter how beautiful or expertly designed.
By its very nature, any bright light source in a room or space immediately draws people’s attention. In the best designs, the decorative light sources only create the illusion of providing a room’s illumination. In reality, it is the other three functions of light (task, accent and ambient) that are actually doing the real work of lighting up the space.
Another common example of poorly done decorative lighting is the overuse of table lamps and wall sconces with translucent shades. Filling a room with translucent shades makes the room look like a lamp shade showroom. It is partly because translucent shades, such as those made of linen or parchment can draw too much attention. When incorporating this type of decorative fixture into a lighting design, consider using an opaque shade. This will help direct the illumination downward over the base, the tabletop, and across your lap when you’re reading.
Still, filling a room with only table lamps to provide the main source of illumination is just bad lighting design, as it uses only one type of light. The other three functions of illumination must come into play. This is “light layering”, where a number of light sources are blended together to create a comfortable, inviting and flexible environment.
Now that you have a handle on what part decorative light can play you can take a look at what I feel is the best the market has to offer. -
When designing the lighting for your home, you should start by learning the “language of light”. Don’t be intimidated. There are only four words to learn: decorative, task, accent, and ambient. All electric lighting falls into these four categories. Once you have these terms down then working out the lighting for any of the rooms in your house becomes much less overwhelming. There is no one light fixture that can give you everything you need to illuminate a room properly. The trick is using a variety of light sources to create a flexible, inviting space. This is what is referred to as “light layering”. These categories are also referred to as the four functions of light. Here is a list of what they are and what it is that they do:Read More »
Decorative
These are what I like to call “architectural jewelry”. Their only purpose is to look pretty. They add sparkle to a space. Chandeliers, exterior lanterns, and candlestick-type wall sconces fall into this category. They should not be used as the work horses for lighting a space. When they are too bright they can visually overpower the other elements of the design. Subtle is the way to go when thinking about decorative lighting.
Task
Lighting by which you do work, such as the under cabinet lighting in the kitchen, reading lamp next to a chair, lighting in your closet, and lighting at the bathroom mirror for applying makeup or shaving.
Accent
Lighting used to highlight objects in a space. This adds depth and dimension to an environment. Recessed adjustable fixtures, track lights, portable uplights, and directional landscape lights all fall into this category.
Ambient
This is the gentle fill light for a room. It softens shadows on people’s faces and fills the volume of the space with a warm glow, as if the room was being filled with the light of a roaring fire. Ambient light comes from illumination that is bounced off the ceiling. Such sources as opaque wall sconces, torcheres, pendant hung indirect fixtures, and cove lighting can be used to create the ambient light.
The Bottom Line
By layering these four functions of light together you can create an environment that welcomes visitors into the space, while providing usable light for day-to-day activities. Getting a feel for these terminologies will get you on the right path to understanding how light can work for you.
The Best Task Lighting:
Task light is illumination for performing work-related activities, such as reading, cutting vegetables, and sorting laundry. The optimal task light is located between your head and the work surface. Lighting from above isn’t an optimal source of task light, because your head casts a shadow onto your book, computer keyboard, or ransom note.
Overhead lighting or incorrectly placed task lighting often contributes to what is called “veiling reflection”. It occurs when your eyes try to accommodate the contrast between black print on white paper. This happens when light comes down from the ceiling, hitting the paper at such an angle that the glare is reflected directly into your eyes, causing eye fatigue. Think of it as the mirror-like reflection of a light source on a shiny surface. It may be a glossy magazine page or any matte surface that has markings of shiny ink, pencil lead, or other glossy substance. Another related term is “photo-pigment bleaching”. A good example of this is when you try to read a book or a magazine outside and the brightness of the sunlight on the page makes it difficult to read. You end up moving to a shaded spot or tilting the magazine until the sun isn’t hitting it directly.
A reflective surface is always a reflective surface, which means you can’t eliminate glare if you are focusing light onto a mirror-like finish. What you can do is redirect the glare away from the normal viewing angle. That’s why a light coming in from one side or both sides, instead of directly overhead, is more effective. It directs the glare away from your eyes.
Table lamps with opaque shades often do the best job for casual reading, because they direct the light better and don’t visually overpower the room when turned up to the correct intensity for the job at hand. Fluorescent or light emitting diode (LED) linear lights are also a good source of task illumination when mounted over a work surface with a shelf above or in the kitchen with the fixture mounted under the overhead cabinets. Incandescent versions are also available but they are not energy efficient and can get very hot.
Now that you have a handle on what part task light can play, you can take a look at what I feel is the best the market has to offer. You’ll find that most of them are energy efficient choices – because beauty can also be wise. -
When designing the lighting for your home, you should start by learning the “language of light.” Don’t be intimidated. There are only four words to learn: decorative, task, accent, and ambient. All electric lighting falls into these four categories. Once you have these terms down then working out the lighting for any of the rooms in your house becomes much less overwhelming. There is no one light fixture that can give you everything you need to illuminate a room properly. The trick is using a variety of light sources to create a flexible, inviting space. This is what is referred to as “light layering.” These categories are also referred to as the four functions of light. Here is a list of what they are and what it is that they do:Read More »
Decorative
These are what I like to call “architectural jewelry.” Their only purpose is to look pretty. They add sparkle to a space. Chandeliers, exterior lanterns and candlestick-type wall sconces fall into this category. They should not be used as the work horses for lighting a space. When they are too bright they can visually overpower the other elements of the design. Subtle is the way to go when thinking about decorative lighting.
Task
Lighting by which you do work, such as the under cabinet lighting in the kitchen, reading lamp next to a chair, lighting in your closet, and lighting at the bathroom mirror for applying makeup or shaving.
Accent
Lighting used to highlight objects in a space. This adds depth and dimension to an environment. Recessed adjustable fixtures, track lights, portable uplights, and directional landscape lights all fall into this category.
Ambient
This is the gentle fill light for a room. It softens shadows on people’s faces and fills the volume of the space with a warm glow, as if the room was being filled with the light of a roaring fire. Ambient light comes from illumination that is bounced off the ceiling. Such sources as opaque wall sconces, torcheres, pendant hung indirect fixtures, and cove lighting can be used to create the ambient light.
The Bottom Line
By layering these four functions of light together you can create an environment that welcomes visitors into the space, while providing usable light for day-to-day activities. Getting a feel for these terminologies will get you on the right path to understanding how light can work for you.
Accent Light
Accent light is directed illumination that highlights objects within an environment. Lighting devices such as track lighting and recessed adjustable fixtures are used to bring attention to art, sculpture, tabletops, and plants. Just like any of the other three functions of light, accent light should not be the only source of illumination in a room.
If you use only accent light, you get the “museum effect,” where the art visually takes over the room while guests fall into darkness. Subconsciously, people will feel that the art is more important than they are. Of course, some people do feel that the art they own is more important than their guests.
How many times have you had to sit down and rest or search for an espresso after going through three rooms in a museum? People can get really exhausted when looking at illuminated art next to non-illuminated walls. Even museums nowadays are adding additional illumination beyond accent light to help reduce eye fatigue, thus cutting the contrast in the overall environment. They too are learning the advantages of light layering to counteract the energy draining museum effect.
Effective accent lighting thrives on subtlety. A focused beam of light directed at an orchid or highlighting an abstract painting above an ornate chest of drawers, can create a wondrous effect. If done well, people won’t notice the light itself. They will see only the object being illuminated. The most successful lighting effect achieves its magic through its very invisibility. If you see the light source, then there is no magic.
In the movies, if we can tell how a special effect has been achieved, we feel cheated. We don’t want to know how it’s done, because we want to think it’s supernatural. In lighting design, it should be no less the case. We want to see the effects of light, but the method needs to remain unseen. This subtlety is what will create a cohesive wholeness, allowing the design, the architecture, the furnishings, and the landscaping to become the focus of a space, not the luminaires or the lamps glaring out from within them.
These are choices that I find great for accent lighting; you’ll find that most of them are energy efficient choices – because beauty can also be wise. -
The Best Ambient LightingRead More »
Ambient light is the soft, general illumination that fills the volume of a room with a glow of light and softens the shadows on people’s faces. It is the most important of the four functions of light, but it is often the one element that is left out of the design of a room or space.
The best ambient light comes from sources that bounce illumination off the ceiling and walls. Such light fixtures as opaque indirect wall sconces, torchères (floor lamps), opaque or semi-opaque pendants, and cove lighting can provide a subtle general illumination without drawing attention to the source. You could call it the “open hearth effect,” where the room seems to be filled with the light of a roaring fire.
Keep in mind that filling a room with table lamps does not provide adequate ambient illumination. These are decorative fixtures that can double as task lights when needed, but they cannot provide ambient light, although they can provide ambience. This is what helps people form an impression of a space, but using them alone in a space creates blobs of uncomfortable illumination that can overpower the environment. Let these portable lamps act a true decorative source, creating welcoming little islands of light instead. Utilizing other sources to provide the necessary ambient light lets the decorative luminaires create the illusion of illuminating the room without dominating the design.
The inclusion of an ambient light source works well only if the ceiling is light in color. For example, a richly hued eggplant colored ceiling in a Victorian dining room or a dark wooden ceiling in a cabin retreat would make indirect light sources ineffective, because the dark surfaces absorb most of the light instead of reflecting it back into the space.
One viable solution to this situation is to lighten the color of the ceiling. Sometimes the best answer to a lighting problem is to alter the environment rather than change the luminaire. Instead of the whole ceiling being dark colored, how about a wide border in that color with the rest of the ceiling done in a cream color or similar light hue? A wooden ceiling could be washed with a light-colored opaque stain, giving it a more weathered look without taking away from the wood feel itself, as simple painting would.
If you are dead set against changing the color, a light fixture could be selected that can provide its own reflective surface, essentially providing its own ceiling.
Using a traditional chandelier or pendant with a hidden incandescent or fluorescent source could complement the design while adding a subtle layer of ambient light. Sometimes fixtures can be multi-functional, providing either task and decorative light or task and ambient light from the same fixture. This multifunctional type of fixture is good to use when you want to create the illusion of a secondary ceiling level in a vaulted space to create a more human scale to a room.
There are many ways of getting ambient light into a room. Ambient light, just like the other three functions, should not be used by itself, because you end up with what is known as the “cloudy day effect,” where everything in a given space appears to have the same value, without any depth or dimension. Here again, ambient illumination is only one component of well-designed lighting. Light layering is always the way to go.
(Article continued in the Best of the Rest section...)
