Brightness,lightness,and providing ‘a preconceived appearance to the interior’

Abstract

,!Waldram’s concept of designing a distribution of lighting to provide ‘a preconceived appearance to the interior’ is examined, with particular regard to application of the ‘apparent brightness’ concept. Some recent research into luminance/brightness relationships is reviewed, and it is concluded that brightness, as it is generally understood, does not provide a valid basis for designing interior lighting. The role of ‘visual constancy’ is discussed, and also the ‘modes of appearance’ concept. The latter is proposed as a useful descriptive framework for ordering readily-observed visual phenomena that influence the appearance elements in an illuminated interior. This approach leads to an understanding that brightness and lightness relate to distinctly different aspects of appearance, and this leads to the reappraisal of the role of brightness in influencing the appearance of an illuminated space. These concepts are set into the context of the holistic approach to lighting design that Waldram proposed in his classic 1954 paper.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Waldram JM. Studies in interior lighting. Trans. Illum. Eng. Soc. (London) 1954; 19: 95-133.

Waldram JM. Designed appearance lighting. Chapter 5 In Lynes JA , ed. Developments in lighting - 1. London: Applied Science Publishers, 1978.

Hopkinson RG , Stevens WR , Waldram JM. Brightness and contrast in illuminating engineering. Trans. Illum. Eng. Soc. (London) 1941; 6: 37-48.

In Hopkinson RG. Architectural Physics: Lighting London: HMSO, 1963: 138-140.

Waldram JM. Design of the visual field as a routine method. Trans. Illum. Eng. Soc. (London) 1958; 23: 113-123.

Hopkinson RG. Architectural physics: lighting. London: HMSO, 1963: 326-326.

Hopkinson RG. Architectural physics: lighting. London: HMSO, 1963: 327-327.

Jay PA. Scales of luminance and apparent brightness. Light Lighting 1967; 60: 42-45.

Hopkinson RG. Apparent brightness—the measure of what we see. Light Lighting 1961; 54: 330-330.

10.

Hurvich LM , Jameson D. The perception of brightness and darkness. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1966.

11.

Marsden AM. Brightness—a review of current knowledge. Lighting Res. Technol. 1969; 1: 171-181.

12.

Franck PJ. The role of reflectance on the perception of brightness. MS thesis: Troy NY, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1993.

13.

Franck PJ. The role of reflectance on the perception of brightness: Proceedings of the IESNA Annual Conference, Miami, Florida. New York: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, 1994.

14.

Chui EWM. Perceptions of relative brightness, relative illumination, and lightness in different modes of appearance. MS thesis: Troy NY, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1997.

15.

Lynes JA. Lightness, colour and constancy in lighting design. Lighting Res. and Technol. 1971; 3: 24-24.

16.

Katz D. The world of colour. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1935.

17.

Committee on Colorimetry of the Optical Society of America . Classification of modes of appearance. J Optical Soc. America 1943; 33: 552-552.

18.

Evans RM. An introduction to color. New York: Wiley, 1948: 168-168.

19.

Judd DB. A five-attribute system of describing visual appearance. Philadelphia: American Society for Testing Materials, 1961.

20.

Lynes JA. Vision. Chapter 2 In Coaton JR , Marsden AM , eds. Lamps and lighting 4th edn. London: Arnold, 1997.

21.

Boyce PR. Human factors in lighting, 2nd edn. London: Taylor & Francis, 2003: pp 92-93.

22.

Cuttle C. Modes of appearance and perceived attributes in architectural lighting design: Proceedings of the CIE Quadrennial Session. Warsaw: International Commission on Illumination, 1999, pp 116-118.

23.

Cuttle C. Lighting by design. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2003.

24.

Jay PA. The theory of practice in lighting engineering. Light Lighting 1973; 66: 303-306.

25.

Fairchild MD. Color appearance models. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1998.

26.

Poore J. Interior color by design. Rockport, MA: Rockport Publishers, 1994.

27.

Jay PA. Subjective criteria for lighting design. Lighting Res. Technol. 2002; 34: 87-99.

28.

Lynes JA. Patterns of light and shade. Lighting in Australia, 1987, August: 16-20.