Office lighting

When lighting an office unlike most other rooms, the most important requirement is an effective task light. A successful balance must be achieved between this and the general lighting to avoid eyestrain, which can result from the contrast between a well-lit surface and dark surrounding walls, or if too much light is reflecting onto a screen. Feature lighting is not essential, but will be effective in creating more atmosphere in a room where you have to spend time, and could be used to highlight a bookshelf or a picture.

Office task lighting could be provided by a desk lamp or, if there are shelves above the desk, by lighting fixed to, or underneath, the shelves. Desk lamps and those fixed to shelves offer a degree of adaptability as the direction of their light beam can be adjusted. A movable light would work very well if a computer is to be used, since the amount of light and any reflection on the screen can be fully con­trolled. Whichever solution is chosen, the task light should, if possible, be on a separate switch from all other sources in the room so that it creates a focus on the work area only.

General office lighting is probably most efficiently provided by a free-standing uplight, which will create a soft, diffuse light without casting problematic reflections on the computer screen; these reflections can occur when using downlights in your overall scheme.

If the office has shelves, further sources can be employed. If there is a gap of at least 600mm (24in) between the top shelf and the ceiling, an uplight could be incorporated above the shelf. If the gap is smaller than 600mm (24in), a continuous source, such as overlapping fluorescent tubes or xenon striplights, will be more successful than a tungsten halogen uplight, which would create a 'hotspot' of intense light on the ceiling rather than provide a general wash over the room.

Low-voltage office track lighting, if you have a whole wall of shelving or a library, will give enough light for you to see every book on each shelf. Alternatively, traditional library lights can be employed. Sometimes also called French library lights, these are usually wall-mounted on brackets, and can have one-, two- or three-arm connections depending on the extension and versatility required. Originating from the idea of a candle on a vertical pole, with an arm-extension so that the lamp could be shifted upwards or sideways, they offer a focused light that can be moved across the shelves. The electrical versions provide the same versatility for both contemporary and traditional interiors.