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How Much Light for a Hallway? Video Tutorial
Transcript: How Much Light Will You Really Need for Your Hallway Design?
[00:00:00] All right, let’s design the lighting for a hallway.
All right, so the first step is going to be figuring out the square footage of the hall that we’re going to be working on. So, grab that.
Okay, so 85. Let’s go over to our lighting calculator. , for this particular project, the stair next to it is a bright area. There’s a skylights. And so. I actually want this hallway to feel a little bit more moody. So we’re going to go with some darker finishes. so that’s the calculator that I’m going to use.
So first we’ll select hallway. Like I said, 84, 85, and then we do have [00:01:00] some tall ceilings at 13 feet. And so I’m going to snip this. So that we have it for later,
now we can refer back to this. Okay, so hallways don’t need a ton of lights. most hallways are actually overlit a bit. we’re going for this kind of a moody vibe. something to keep in mind though is that we do have this elevator door threshold here. So we need to make sure we get at least 10 foot candles of light.
Right there. So what we’re going to do is right out of the gates, we’re just going to have a down light [00:02:00] centered on that door. And then, oh, actually, I want to go to the other plan here.
And then I think for the rest of the hall, maybe, going with some recessed wall lights. So it’s just lighting the floor surface. It feels moody. It’s prepping you for, , accessing these bedrooms at the end of the hallway. You’re of winding down for the end of the day. So put in some step lights.
We’re going to have room for that. Okay. So we’ve got two step lights and a down [00:03:00] light. Let’s go back to the calculator and find some placeholders. Okay, I’ve got two of these.
All right, and then let’s go find a recessed down light.[00:04:00]
Okay, so we’re definitely over our lumens needed for this hallway, but, um, it’s not as if we can just have a single down light and then that would light this whole hallway. So it really comes down to coverage, So really, we need at least 3 lights, regardless of how bright they are, just so that we can provide some illumination for the full length of this hallway.
Um, so let’s see. Yeah, right now we’re at about 1120 lumens, and we only needed 469. So, that’s pretty common with hallways, uh, but it’s just good to know that we have the freedom to maybe have a little bit less light. Um, if [00:05:00] we didn’t have this elevator here then that would change things and maybe we could have just done another step light over here.
Okay, uh, that’s it for now and I’ll see you in the next video.
Table of contents
Works Cited: Quality Hallway Lighting
Duncan, Steve. “Why Is It Important to Do a Lighting Calculation?” Lighting Design Insights. [LightingJUMP.com, https://www.lightingjump.com/how-many-lights-forest-vibe].
The author emphasizes the necessity of conducting lighting calculations to ensure effective lighting design in various spaces. He cites the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) for their established footcandle targets that help determine appropriate lighting levels. Duncan also mentions the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Department of Energy’s publicly available footcandle targets, which he uses for residential projects.
He shares a personal anecdote about the complications that arise from inadequate lighting, stressing the importance of precise calculations to avoid costly adjustments and excessive spending. The lighting estimator featured on his webpage is designed to assist clients in achieving optimal lighting without overspending.
References – Quality Residential Lighting Design
- Duncan, Steve. “Why Is It Important to Do a Lighting Calculation?” Lighting Design Insights. .
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in Residential Lighting.” NREL/TP-53467. 2012. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53467.pdf.
- Illuminating Engineering Society. “Standards.” https://store.ies.org/individual-standards/?v=0b3b97fa6688.
- International Association of Lighting Designers. “About the IALD.” https://iald.org/IALD/IALD/About/About-
