What does it feel like to be excluded? The challenges of inclusive design and what it means for lighting designers.
By Paul Beale--Founder, 18 Degrees Lighting
Inclusive Design is not just about reducing inequality but makes sound economic sense. In an article about Inclusive Design and Accessible Design in 2019, members of the UK Design Council’s Architecture and Built Environment team raised the question ‘What does it feel like to be excluded’ and went on to vividly describe what it might feel like to experience an impairment and how many people this affects in the UK.
As the article goes on to explain, this is not only about reducing inequalities and improving health and wellbeing, but also makes sound economic sense. In the UK there are 13.3 million people with disabilities, with a combined spending power which includes relatives, friends and colleagues of £249 billion. So, there are many compelling reasons to adopt inclusive design practises.
A new Equality Act came into force in 2010 which brought together over 116 separate pieces of legislation into one Act and makes discrimination against people with disabilities illegal. There is the standard BS 8300 which is considered best practice on making buildings accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities. But it still seems that in the years after initial publication in 2009, (it was updated in 2017 to include external spaces) some of the momentum has been lost. In many instances architects and designers are keen to put inclusive design into practise but meet opposition from some clients.
According to British Land there is a low awareness of Inclusive Design with design consultants. According to a recent blog Thinking Creatively for Ability Inclusion British Land’s Nick Phillips comments; ‘To create outstanding places, it’s essential our design partners give accessibility experts a greater voice. So, we’ve started hosting workshops bringing together our architects, engineers and accessibility consultants and challenging our design teams to go beyond compliance to achieve the best outcomes. We’re seeing a lot of enthusiasm and a willingness to do things differently.’ In 2020 British Land signed up to The Valuable 500, a global movement working to get 500 of the world’s largest businesses to commit to placing disability inclusion on their business leadership agendas. With one of the major and most influential developers like British Land recognising the need to raise the bar on this issue it should present greater opportunities for us as architectural lighting designers to embrace inclusive lighting design.
Inclusive design meets Lighting Design
Does Inclusive design have a strong enough voice in the lighting industry? In my view probably not, as it rarely forms part of the lighting design brief. Maybe it is presumed that we as designers will implement it as part of our guidance on light, safety and wellbeing? There are several impairments--physical and mental--where good lighting design is crucial to adhere to inclusive best practice.
Light for Visual Impairment
As most of us are aware ageing populations have dramatically increased in many countries. After typically the age of 45 years, people need significantly additional amounts of light to be able to perform the same visual task comfortably. Current lighting requirements were established based on results of experiments that employed young subjects. It is important to summarise recommendations for lighting so that people with visual disadvantages will not have problems when performing visual tasks.
I’ve listed just a few of the criteria here for addressing lighting for visual impairment, according to the CIE 227:2017, including
Provide separate task and ambient lighting.
Task lighting should have capabilities to dim and control colour temperatures to meet individual needs.
Specify room surfaces with higher reflectances to improve the visibility of objects.
Reducing glare from the standard UGR 19 to 16 for older people.
Increase task illuminance for tasks including reading in accordance with CIE S 008 for older people.
Light for Physical impairment
There are some important factors to consider for physically disabled and wheelchair users like ensuring that any light switches should be accessible and should be no less than 750mm and no more than 1200mm above ground level (BS 8300). Potentially hazardous spaces for these users should be treated with special attention like stairs, escalators and lifts.
There is some guidance on this area covering lighting in the BS8300.
Light for Autism
Until reading the guidance in full I was not fully aware of the range of sensory problems that people with autism can suffer from. Lighting being a real issue, but unfortunately appears to be very little in terms of guidance for designing lighting for autism.
With as many as 90-95% of people with autism spectrum disorder having external sensitivities, it’s not surprising that exposure to bright light can affect their symptoms. Those with autism have also been found to have physical differences in the structures of their central nervous systems and they may also have a lower neurological threshold for environmental stimuli, including light. These physical changes contribute to the many visual and behavioural changes experienced by those on the autism spectrum.
Sensitivity to light can manifest in different ways for people with autism. For instance, physical symptoms may include:
Lower tolerance for light
Discomfort from fluorescents and other artificial light with inherent flicker
Light avoidance behaviours (shielding eyes)
After images
Visual snow
Headaches or migraines triggered by light
As lighting designers we may be more aware of the SEN design issues in schools. Lighting guidance in SLL LG5 gives useful guidance on how to address this. It recommends flexible lighting conditions for those with SEN, avoidance of glare and advocates need to employ a specialist lighting designer where relevant. The challenge about designing light for autism is that there is so much diversity on the spectrum that it’s difficult to understand what the guidance should be.
Light and Wellbeing
Over recent years there has been significantly more research carried out on the effects of lighting on our circadian system and we now know that light affects our health directly and is the most important time trigger for our hormone production in the brain.
Mood boosting serotonin levels rise when we are exposed to daylight and warm, dimmer light triggers the release of melatonin which helps us sleep at night. So this is why it’s crucial to get the right light at the right time.
Light for Alzheimer’s and Depression
Importantly Light can have significant effects on our health, positive or negative; for example, it can help reduce the symptoms of depression and Alzheimer’s disease, but also contribute to sleep disruption, with detrimental health consequences. Exposure to bright light may improve sleep and ease depression and agitation in people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new report.
Lighting design criteria have historically been tailored to visual requirements (e.g. illuminance). Consideration of circadian effects requires new metrics, which are currently under consideration. An inclusive approach to lighting in workspace environments must take light and health into account as this affects the entire working population. More information is available in the new BSEN12464-1 which looks at The impact of visual and non-visual (non-image forming) effects of light on people's performance and well-being are elaborated in the new informative Annex B and in CIBSE TM40 TM40 - Health issues in building services - 2020.pdf
Putting Inclusive Lighting Design into Practice
At our recent project Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, 100 Bishopsgate London, the lighting is designed not just for energy efficiency but for flexibility to support agile working too. For the lighting designers, this meant that a wide range of illumination conditions was required to accommodate different ages and preference of staff as well as natural light availability.
The legal services profession typically employs staff across a very wide range of ages, from graduates in their early 20s to partners in their 70s and sometimes beyond. Lighting is designed with respect to Freshfields’ philosophy that their staff are their most valuable asset and their work environment and wellbeing are intrinsically linked.
This led to a lighting design that provides for a wide range of illuminance levels, very low glare and enhanced light for task where required for reading paper-based materials. And importantly, a very simple control interface that facilitates changes to suit the user.
In conclusion, standard good practice design techniques are a start but will not necessarily lead to a solution that works for everyone in our community. We would like to see more clients identify inclusive design as an important factor in how they brief their design teams. As designers, we have an opportunity to make spaces look and feel great for everyone. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
We have recently developed a lighting CPD on Inclusive Lighting Design and hope this will help raise the discussion and involvement in this important area. Please email hello@18degs.com to sign up.
https://www.18degs.com/cpd