Shaping spaces: visual comfort

Lighting is a central part of any commercial space and depending on the solution used, it can define – in a positive or negative way – how the space is perceived by those who use it. It is this human element; the emotional response to light that Novii is focused on, especially in its latest commercial range, Grace, which was launched earlier this month (June).

“The way light is delivered shapes the way any space is perceived,” Novii’s Gray Borrell says. “Our focus with Grace is on the concept of visual comfort. With commercial lighting, there are expectations around function and performance, and while Grace provides those, it is unique in its other core focus – on the emotional response and how light affects the user’s perception of a commercial space.

“While we are innovating in terms of function and efficiency, we are more curious about people, how they feel in a space and how lighting enhances that. Grace is a range that was developed on the principles of resilience, performance and form that explores micro optic technology and introduces the idea of visual comfort.”

Commercial spaces vary wildly in terms of their uses, and so one of the first parts of Novii’s research and development for Grace involved going out and talking to clients and asking them what they wanted in a new commercial range.

The completed range is based upon their comments and the pillars of human emotional response and visual comfort.

In terms of visual comfort, this concept can mean different things

in different settings. “In an early learning centre, for example, visual comfort will take into account how children learn, interact and relax,” Gray says. “Low glare solutions are important in a space like this.”

The UGR Low Glare Rating is a scale that measures a luminaire glare. “Anything below 19 on the scale is considered really good. WIth Grace, we’ve developed lights that are as low as 13, which is exceptional.”

As part of the visual comfort concept, Novii focused on the idea of ‘invisible light’. “We don’t always need to see lighting in a space; what’s important is the ambience it creates. So the question we asked was: How do you take the focus off the light itself but deliver on the ambience that lighting creates?”

The result of that investigation was the incorporation of micro optic technology that allows for the fittings to be significantly reduced in size, while achieving high efficiency. “They are tiny but have the output of something much larger,” Gray says. 

Make sure you visit Novii on ArchiPro here to explore what visual comfort means in terms of cutting-edge commercial lighting.