People rebuilding after Quake have new attitude to lighting

June, 2013

People who are rebuilding their houses after the Christchurch Earthquake are now seeing lighting as far more than removing darkness.

I've been creating lighting designs for these people. I've been showing them how their lighting is far more than illuminating a space. It's actually creating a special ambience that puts themselves and their guests in a good mood.

We look at what parts of a room they want the light to focus on, and what colour temperature is best to create the right atmosphere. They are all amazed when they see how this differs from their old plan that was purely to remove darkness.

The major challenge has been to develop the right design with the budgets the owners have been allocated from insurance pay outs. But good design does not have to be expensive. In fact, good lighting design helps cut costs anyway.

It's all about using cost-effective fittings and making efficient use of them. For example, where I might place a down-light, I could instead fit all wall lights to illuminate that space plus another area that would otherwise have needed an extra fitting.

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