Light and colour – a powerful team
Why do we feel good in some rooms and not in others? In many cases, it is because of clever use of light and colour. Both factors have a pronounced effect on our sense of wellbeing, influence our mood and impact on our biological clock. Which is not surprising considering that 80 percent of the information that reaches our brain is obtained through our eyes. And light plays a key role in that, because light is what makes colours visible in the first place.
Soul doping for the home
The power of colours and light was known even to the Ancient Egyptians, who built "colour temples" with different coloured therapy rooms. The Chinese also used light and colour for therapeutic purposes, hanging coloured fabrics over windows to speed up a patient's recovery. Today, we know that coloured light encourages the body to secrete mood-brightening substances – soul doping, in effect, that can easily be performed in the home.
Rooms can be simply and effectively transformed with wall paint and light. In a bedroom, for example, soothing warm colours make for a cosy atmosphere, which can be emphasised even more by appropriate light sources. Warm colours are in fashion at present for living and dining rooms while cooler, fresher colours are found more relaxing in a bathroom.
It takes only a few accents to give a home an upbeat new look. These could be provided by a mobile LED luminaire used in the evening to bathe a plain white wall in pink purple light, for example, or by a single room-defining coloured wall illuminated for dramatic impact by wallwashers, floor or ceiling spots. The point to note is that the darker and bolder a colour, the closer it appears to the observer – and the more light it absorbs. White walls reflect as much as 85 percent of the light that falls on them, for instance, whereas light-coloured wood panelling reflects less than 35 percent.
Something else worth noting is colour rendering index. This is what determines how naturally a lamp renders the appearance of colours around it. For domestic applications, a lamp's colour rendering index should be no less than Ra 80.
