BACKGROUND
- Classroom ScheduleThe south-facing orientation of the classroom, combined with the late afternoon to evening class schedule, limits natural light exposure, especially during certain times of the year. These conditions lead to a heavy reliance on artificial lighting.
- Disruption of Biological RhythmsThe static artificial lighting in the classroom does not align with the natural biological rhythms of students and teachers. Evening classes require lighting that can support focus during lessons while gradually promoting relaxation for a restful nighttime sleep.
OBJECTIVES
- Reduce energy consumptionReplacing existing fluorescent lighting with LED technology to improve energy efficiency.
- Increase students and teacher's well-beingAdapting artificial light to the changing human biological needs throughout the day.
- Comply with lighting regulationsTaking into consideration the use of the space for learning activities.
LIGHTING DESIGN
The main challenge laid in designing LED lighting to not impact negatively on the users' circadian rhythms, which are very sensitive to lighting received in the late afternoon and evening, when the lessons take place.
To address this, a lighting design on the space evaluated the requirements of the luminaires to ensure visual comfort for a learning environment but considering the non-visual impact
- Tunable spectrum with low circadian impact
- Colour temperature control from warm (2700K) to cool white (6000K)
- Deep dimming
- Low-glare UGR<19
- High CRI
- DALI Control
LIGHTING OPTIMISATION
KUMUX Platform adapted the dynamic lighting settings in terms of colour temperature throughout the day, to ensure that the objective of balanced circadian impact would be achieved, considering the specific lighting design characteristics:
- Building type: School
- Geolocation: Barcelona, Spain
- Standards: Lighting Research Center
- Constant horizontal illuminance levels of 500 lux on the table
- Light spectrum
Special adjustments were made to the lighting curves to adapt to the lesson schedule. The Lighting Research Center recommendations at school are for students attending lessons during the morning. Thus, a slightly higher circadian stimulus was considered for the evening to balance the students’ attention in class with their rest some hours later at night.
LIGHTING AUTOMATION
The control system in the project utilises the Lutron Athena controller. It manages the lighting settings in every stay manually through touch panels in each room, as well as using daylight and presence sensors for energy savings.
Tailored scenes can be set whenever required for specific activities such as a presentation with the projector, relaxation or focus moments. However, the key element in the control system was the automation of KUMUX for dynamic lighting to adapt light all day based on well-being standards and the luminaire characteristics.
KUMUX Cloud service integrated into the Lutron control system automated the optimised dynamic lighting settings throughout the day based on geolocation, application, date and the luminaires spectrum.
Upon user activation of the room’s lights, KUMUX adjusts the colour temperature, aligning them with the students’ needs at that precise moment, following the Lighting Research Center recommendations. These adjustments smoothly vary throughout the day, replicating natural sunlight variations in the corresponding season.
MEASUREMENT & ADJUSTMENT
KUMUX optimisation of colour temperature and light levels can ensure consistent alignment throughout the day with the Lighting Research Center recommendations for circadian lighting (see LRC only graph).
However, these lighting curves were adapted to the specific needs of the project (see EDU-LIGHT graph).
- The required horizontal illuminance levels (500 lux on the table) limited the minimum circadian stimulus possible with the designed luminaires.
- The circadian stimulus for the late lessons should be slightly higher than the one recommended by the Lighting Research Center, which does not consider lessons during the evening. Thus, lighting could balance the students’ concentration in class with their rest at night.
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