Lighting design: kitchen, dining room + living room
OVERVIEW
The gallery to the left offers an overview of the design process for the Novato residence remodel. It illustrates each step in the process for the south elevation of the kitchen and dining room.
Please scroll down the page for a more comprehensive, illustrated description of each step in the process.
1. SPACE PLANNING
When I first met with my clients, they were struggling with the dysfunctional layout of the rooms in the public areas of their home. The kitchen and formal dining room were separated by a wall with a small door and both rooms were too small to be functional. Beyond the formal dining room was a large formal living room but it felt cut off and was rarely used. To the other side of the kitchen was a family room, and it was there and in the small kitchen that the family were spending all of their time.
We started this project by exploring what our room layout options were. We had a very specific eye to how the family wanted to live and inhabit the space as a whole.
The CAD drawings to the left show a selection from the room layout options that were considered. The first CAD drawing in the sequence shows the original layout before any modifications were made.
2. FINAL PLAN + ELEVATION VIEWS
After considering many possible options, we decided to remove the wall that was currently between the kitchen and formal dining room and to shift the space allocation where necessary. A much more open, spacious and functional space resulted.
To the left you will see CAD drawings of the final floor plan, as well as detailed plan view and elevation drawings for the new kitchen / dining area.
3. LIGHTING DESIGN: Conceptual
Careful lighting design for the new space was particularly important. Kitchens always require a thoughtful mix of task and ambient lighting. The room must satisfy energy efficacy codes, but it must also satisfy the client's desires and preferences.
The dining area and living room have steeply sloped ceilings which made recessed can and art spot lighting a particularly detailed process.
I started with colour sketches illustrating proposed light distribution in elevation and plan views (these can be seen in the gallery to the left).
4. LIGHTING DESIGN: Technical
The gallery to the left shows my sketches demonstrating the work behind the technical side of the lighting design on this project. Each fixture was carefully specified for its specific pyrometric qualities
and for the desired 'foot candle' (fc) measure on a specific surface.
The main challenge was with the sloped ceilings: it was important to
specify bulbs and cans of varying beam spreads and intensities in order
to have an even distribution of light at task / reading or floor level,
despite the varying ceiling elevation locations resulting from the
steeply sloped ceilings.
The art spot lighting called for similar consideration:
the size and intensity of the beam spread where it hit the wall needed
to be consistent and it needed to deliver the desired quantity of light
despite the challenges presented by the sloped ceilings.
The images and content of this website are Copyright © 2011 Ruth Hyndman