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Lighting Design and Application

Beyond safety, security and simply allowing one to see, lighting applications are wide and varied. Across a range of indoor and outdoor locations, lighting plays an integral role in setting the mood and atmosphere, drawing attention to and away from whatever the lighting designer wishes. Lighting is much more than simply putting a spotlight on your subject, it creates ambiance, displays video content, and can be used in conjunction with architectural elements and dynamic fixtures to create a memorable visual experience for guests.

Architectural lighting is, strictly speaking, illumination for building design and function. Three main factors are encompassed by this term. The first consideration is aesthetic appeal, ie what to light up and what to keep in the dark, which is of particular importance for residential and commercial applications. The second is ergonomics, or functionality, in that it asks how lighting can promote one’s ability to live, work, function, relax or play. And the third aspect involves energy efficiency, ensuring that light is economically or optimally used and distributed.

A staple of concerts around the world, moving lights, which are also called intelligent lights, are flexible and versatile fixtures that feature a movable head on a rotating yoke to create moving beams of light. They come in three forms: wash, spot, and beams. Wash fixtures are great for bathing large areas with light color, while spot fixtures are better suited for lighting presenters or performers, and beam fixtures are ideal for creating almost laser-like columns of light.  When you combine lighting technology with mechanics you get kinetic lighting. One way of doing this is to have an array of LED (light-emitting diode) orbs or LED pixel tubes attached to chain motors suspended from a ceiling to create dynamic lighting over a space. Laser lights are popular at indoor and outdoor music events because they can be programmed via lighting consoles and software, allowing for synchronization with music.

Lighting outdoor spaces has numerous solutions depending on the occasion. Uplighting is a form of ground-based lighting used to illuminate areas within a venue. When placed along a wall, uplights create multi-colored columns of light on the walls which create the illusion of higher ceilings and wider spaces. The same technique can be used to dramatic effect on building facades, making a statement on a city’s skyline. Gobo lights consist of a gobo (a metal or glass disc with a pattern, logo, or any other design etched into it) which is projected onto a surface such as a wall or ceiling. Festoon lighting is a great alternative to fairy lights, and can be strung up between trees or draped around areas of interest to draw the attention of guests. Balloon lights are air-inflated fixtures that can be suspended or ground-supported, bathing an area in warm halogen light or bold LED light.

Given the unreliability of the weather, lighting is increasingly being applied to horticulture and vertical agriculture. For example, many ornamental crops (perennials and annuals) flower in response to the length of the day and the night. Photoperiodic lighting is used to emulate both the day-night cycle as well as the varying lengths of days and nights according to the seasons. Supplemental lighting can be used on cloudy days and at night for plants for high light crops such as tomatoes. In the case of some high-value crops such as tissue culture propagules and leafy greens, sole-source lighting, where the only light a plant receives comes from an electric lamp, is used 18 to 24 hours a day most, if not all, year-round. Because of this extended usage cooling systems may be necessary to deal with the heat from the lamps.

Warehouses are characterized by spaces with large volumes and relatively few windows, so lighting is especially important. To promote safety and efficiency warehouse lighting must propagate the space without overwhelming workers. Different warehouse lights are intended for different parts of warehouses. Linear aisle lights, for example, are meant for low lighting over aisles. Panel high bays, on the other hand, are meant to single-handedly cover larger areas than a regular UFO high bay light.

The transition to LED is a common trend in all these lighting application. Contrary to its cost-prohibitive past, LED is now far more affordable, has a longer lifespan, and produces far less heat than other lighting solutions. In addition, LED lights are up to 75% more energy-efficient than their CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) and incandescent lighting predecessors, resulting in a lower carbon footprint and energy savings. With more and more people wanting to contribute to environmental sustainability and mitigate the rate of climate change, LED lighting is the preferred choice for the foreseeable future.

Air Treatment Systems

Air treatment systems, commonly referred to as HVACs (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), are an integral part of maintaining a comfortable indoor environment, regardless of weather conditions or season. HVACs encompass everything from the air conditioner in a house to the large systems found in shopping malls, skyscrapers, and industrial complexes. They are also a crucial component where health regulations require that temperature and humidity be kept at certain levels.

HVACs can be single-function. For example, in hotter regions, one may only want to cool the air, while only heating may be desired in colder regions. However, HVACs are typically multifunction and process air in multiple ways as weather and seasons change.

Some heating systems come in the form of furnaces where fuel is burned to provide heated air through the ductwork, while another option is boilers that heat water for steam radiators, or forced-water systems with baseboard radiators, electric heat, and heat pumps. Furnaces generally burn gas or propane, while boilers use gas or oil to heat the water.

Air conditioning is the process of taking warm air into a system and dispersing cold air. Inside the air conditioner, a fluid such as water is cooled by another fluid called a refrigerant. The conditioner quickly converts gas into a liquid and back again using chemicals that remove warm air from indoors and disposes of that warm air outside. The type of air conditioner we’re most familiar with is the split system, which consists of a wall-mounted inside unit and a larger outside unit. This split system is popular because the noisy components are housed in the outside unit, allowing for a quieter indoor environment.

An important aspect of air treatment is humidification and dehumidification. Humidity can make conditions feel warmer than they really are, driving people to lower the thermostat which drives up energy usage. Excess moisture in the air can also lead to building and property damage, as well as harm your health. While air conditioners can reduce the humidity in a space, a dehumidifier is far more efficient. A dehumidifier draws in humid air and passes it through an evaporator. The humid air containing the moisture is then cooled. The cold dry air then passes through a condenser, heating the air and returning it to the room to gather new humidity or moisture. And the cycle repeats itself until ideal conditions are met. In the case of humidification, moisture is added to the air by passing it over the stream or spray of water which is at a temperature lower than the dry bulb temperature of the air. Ideally, the humidity level of indoor environments should be kept between 30% and 50%.

Another part of air treatment is air purification. The purpose of air purifiers is to remove impurities from the air we breathe. These impurities include dust, smoke, mold spores, pet dander, and pollen, among other airborne pollutants. Traditionally, woven material is used to capture particles as they pass through. Air purifiers for odor that use HEPA (high energy particulate air) and activated carbon filters trap the tiny particles that create undesired smells.

As the effects of climate change worsen and the quality of air reduces as a result of pollution, air treatment systems are transitioning from luxuries to necessities.

Horticulture

The simplest definition of horticulture is it is the cultivation of plants. It involves growing plants either for their aesthetic value, as in floriculture (the cultivation of flowers), or on a local scale for food and medicine (as in a home garden). In addition to home gardening, horticulturists are involved in the landscaping and maintenance of parks, golf courses, and public gardens. In contrast to agriculture, horticulture does not include intensive crop production or large-scale crop farming.

Horticulture can be divided into several categories, which include:
– Olericulture: the production of vegetables
– Pomology: the production of fruits and nuts
– Viticulture: the production of grapes, primarily for winemaking
– Floriculture: the production of flowers and ornamental plants
– Turf management: the production and maintenance of grass for sports and leisure
– Arboriculture: the cultivation of individual trees, shrubs, and vines for aesthetic or amenity purposes. This is distinct from forestry, which is the large-scale cultivation of trees.

The climatic conditions that have the biggest impact on the development of plants include temperature, precipitation, humidity, light, and wind. Some plants may die when exposed to conditions where frost forms, while others may recover when warmer weather returns. The amount of moisture needed varies greatly. Desert plants can survive on little water and may die if over-watered, while some plants need constant exposure to moisture. All these conditions can be artificially controlled through technology in the case of indoor horticulture.
Irrigation in horticulture is the artificial application of water to the soil in order to supplement or replace unreliable rainfall. There are several irrigation techniques to consider. In surface irrigation, water is distributed over and across the land using gravity flow to wet and infiltrate the soil. Localized irrigation distributes water under low pressure through a piped network. There is also sprinkler irrigation where water is delivered to one or more central locations and distributed overhead by rotating high-pressure sprinklers. Sprinklers can also be mounted on automated moving platforms that are connected to the water source by a hose. One of the oldest methods of irrigation simply uses buckets, though this may be labor-intensive.

The soil used in horticulture needs to have the correct combination of nutrients, organic matter, and moisture. Usually, the preferred garden soil is loamy, meaning it has a balanced mixture of clay, sand, and organic matter. The acidity or alkalinity of the soil and the presence of microscopic organisms are also factors to consider. A common practice involves the addition of mineral nutrients and organic matter in the form of fertilizers that meet the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur needs of the plants. Organic horticulture is an alternative to the use of synthetic chemicals in gardening.
The role of genetics in horticulture is to produce superior plant varieties. Plants can be genetically modified to increase yields, enhance disease and pest resistance, provide resistance to herbicides or increase the nutritional value of the plants.

In conclusion, horticulture is the confluence of science, technology, art, and skill that are applied to the cultivation of better plants, and the field is ever-evolving as new techniques and practices are constantly being discovered.