Architects and Lighting. The Measurement OF Illumination.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 2, 1 December 1908, Page 60

Architects and Lighting. The Measurement OF Illumination.

A subject which is much neglected and little understood is dealt with in an important article by Mr P. J. Waldram, F. 5.1., in the Illuminating Engineer for September. How to determine the proper amount of illumination, whether natural or artificial, for a building is a matter upon which many architects have but the most hazy ideas, though all recognise the advantage of securing sufficient light without needless glare. Mr. "Waldram gives a resume of existing regulations on the subject of lighting, and points out that these regulations do not take into account the varying conditions in which they have to be applied. The aspect of a window (he remarks), its shape, the solid angle subtended in the clear sky visible from it, the colour of the opposing walls, and the interior decoration all affect its illuminating power, but so completely has the science of illumination been ignored hitherto, that not one architect in a hundred, probably not one in a thousand, would know how to calculate the additional window space required to afford equal illumination under adverse conditions. Experienced architects, when fixing window dimensions, can depend upon the intuition derived from a series of previous approximations more or less successful; younger architects can only trust to guesswork and luck.