Identifying preferred surface, colour and lighting characteristics

Abstract

The challenge designers and architects face today is a rapidly increasing amount of lighting options and material choices. Hence to identify preferred characteristics of materials and lights is becoming a matter of an educated guess, than an intuitive decision. New tools can support this decision process. To consider light and surface characteristics in one integral approach is the essential feature of the method described in this paper. The use of two psychological dimensions to categorise visual appearance is efficient as it is suited to analysing existing spaces and for testing anticipated conditions. With the axes soft–hard and warm–cool it is possible to describe the impact of surfaces, colours and lighting on visual perception, but also on the appearance of whole scenes and interiors. The desired reduction of design options can thus be realised by combined consideration of design requirements, physical restrictions and the localisation of perceptions in a semantic space.