“Totally honoured to be among the industry professionals involved in the online MA Interior Design for the Health and Wellbeing course at New Bucks University – have already had some great interaction with students and I am looking forward to more”
Mary Rushton-Beales
Lighting Design House
Industry Professionals | Buckinghamshire New University (bucks.ac.uk
“So excited to be a judge on the Build Back Better Awards. This last year has given all of us time to focus on being better in all kinds of ways – and I’m so looking forward to seeing what our industry has to offer.
“Build Back Better, is a new initiative to champion innovation in buildings. During 2020 we learned how important the built environment is to our physical and mental health and wellbeing.mAnd, post-pandemic, we realise that we’ll need spaces that better reflect our changed priorities.
We’ll need workplaces with collaboration and wellness at their heart, homes that are designed for remote working, well considered local community and leisure facilities and retail outlets that support online shopping.
What thinking, technologies and innovations will help us shape this new age?
That’s the question that Build Back Better will answer.”
Mary Rushton-Beales
JUDGES (buildbackbetterawards.com)
Article in The Light Review
6 January 2020
In my time on this planet as a lighting designer it has come to my attention that for some reason everything that has significance comes in threes. We had a project a year or so ago where the client, electrician and project manager were all called Jerry – so we had Jerry the vicar, Jerry the sparks and then the PM got to be called just plain Jerry. At the moment I have 3 projects with Architects called Alex; and on one day last year we had 3 unexpected projects materialise.
So THREE seems important and in the last couple of weeks I have had occasion to look at 3 individuals’ home-working environments, who all suffer from S.A.D. This led me to reprise a vein of enquiry via NHS Health A-Z which really annoyed me a few years ago when I found this statement “Light therapy is also a popular treatment for SAD, although NICE says it’s not clear whether it’s effective.” In fact, hardly any light therapy is recommended by NHS. This could be due to the over-zealous denials on almost all light-related headlines issued via NHS (though that’s just my opinion), though ‘Behind the headlines’ is curated by Bazian, owned by the Economist,(and self-proclaimed champions of evidence-based healthcare), or it could be that all apparent SAD sufferers who have seen relief of their symptoms from light therapy are experiencing a placebo response.
This confusing situation means that there are no “official” guidelines in the UK for the use of Light Boxes or Light Alarms but a myriad of choices out there. I tried to find out which light therapy products have been approved by the MHRA (Medicines and healthcare products Regulatory Agency) but I didn’t get very far. Why did I do this? Well to return to my 3 different people who want tons more light in their home in the winter.
Well-lighting design (and common sense) would dictate that being illuminated by 10000 lux whilst looking at a computer screen is obviously bad for the eye; that a sky-printed panel might look pretty but will be terribly inefficient; that a blue-painted incandescent lamp is just plain wrong – but that didn’t stop a lot of argument and references to smart devices. Hence my own trawling of official advice to get a definitive answer.
As you might expect, clients 2 and 3 were easy to pacify with a proper lighting design solution and references to old favourite lighting buzzwords such as lumen output and lux. Not so client 1. We ended by recommending that the light box be used on the kitchen table at an oblique angle and we simply improved the background lighting around the work station. And of course exposure to daylight whenever the weather permits.
I never thought I would say this – as I love to break a rule – but it’s the lack of rules that have allowed poor quality equipment and just plain bad advice to take such a hold on affairs.
When you are expecting your first Grandchild there are lots of things to worry about . . .
Extract from Louis Macneice’s “Prayer before birth”
I am not yet born; provide me
With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk
to me, sky to sing to me, birds and a white light
in the back of my mind to guide me.
I remember our English teacher reading us the full version of this poem when we were in our teens and it made a powerful impression on us. Most of the verses are wonderfully dark and deep but I have always loved this stanza because it mentions light. Yet who would think that the guiding white light might be damaging? I’m talking about cold white LED light, of course.
I wonder if one day we will talk about the time when we spent hours without respite looking at a cool white screen, in the same way as we talk about how doctors used to promote cigarettes?
No sooner does one group of scientists issue warnings about risks associated with exposure to blue LED light than another group issues a “you’re on the naughty step” refutation.
I used to think that the “fuss” about blue light retinal exposure was something jointly invented by opticians to sell more glasses and by specialist lighting manufacturers to sell more lights, but now I am not so sure. In 2016 I attended the wonderful Wismar Licht Symposium and I was lucky to meet Charlotte Reme a professor of Opthamology at the University of Zurich, specialising in retinal cell biology. She first introduced me to the concept that the spectral transmission of light through the lens of the eye changes a great deal over our lives.
As babies, children and adolescents we can “see” far more of the blue end of the spectrum and therefore these wavelengths of light reach our retinas. Perhaps if we could actually see the world through our children’s eyes it would be a far more vibrant place; maybe even the fashion for bright colours in children’s environments might seem a bit of an overload through a far clearer lens?
In the ANSES report of May 2019, Francine Behar-Cohen, an ophthalmologist and head of the expert group that conducted the review states that, because the crystalline lens in their eyes are not fully formed, children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to the effects of blue rich light. Conversely in a refutation of this report The EU group of scientists SCHEER (“Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks”) claims that among other things ANSES has ignored the findings of other scientists and relied upon studies in rats not humans. (Did they think tests might be done on babies? Call Herod!)
Whilst the impact of blue light is in question, no-one disputes the effect of UV light on our retinas – we are all aware of children’s sensitivity to sunlight. It’s commonly agreed that people receive 80% of their lifetime exposure to Ultraviolet (UV) rays before they reach the age of 18. Also, that the lens of a child’s eye will allow 70% more UV rays to enter the retina than an adult. Finally, infants’ eyes are more sensitive to light; their lids are more transparent which allows a shorter wavelength of light to reach their retina.
I think it’s time for some common sense. I was reminded during polymath Dr Shelley James’ excellent round table discussion about light and wellbeing , that the discovery about the change in our lenses over age was in the 1970’s. It’s possible that there is no photo-toxicity in the cool blue/white light that pervades our digital world BUT in the context of “first do no harm” I believe that the advice given at the end of the ANSES report: use warm white LED lighting, limiting exposure to LED sources with a high concentration of blue light, avoiding LED screens before bedtime and using light sources with minimal or no flicker is advice that I personally will follow – and also recommend for all the children in our family this Christmas – and that new grandchild!
And I’m not alone: here’s what consumer champions Which have to say on the subject:
Finally: this is not cute . . .
From Open University 2016: ‘Early adopters: What are smartphones doing to children?’ . . . with no mention of the biological impact of blue light.
Posted in Featured, Health and Wellbeing
Depending on the time of day and year, the lighting in your home needs to adapt to many different moods, ambient and functional requirements – and creating lit environments that respond to all these needs is the starting point of all our lighting designs. Choosing the right lighting technique, the best system for managing the control options, as well as styles and quantities of equipment creates spaces that provide both visual comfort and pleasure.
Added to this are electricity savings and the potential for enhancing the physical well being of everyone at home. It’s so enjoyable working directly with private clients who have usually waited for a long long time before finally changing their home lit environments.
Here’s a few examples of client briefs:
• We both get up really early so would love it if the bathroom lighting could be welcoming, invigorating and ‘sunny’ on cold, winter mornings.
• We want an atmosphere in the family room on winter afternoons that encourages the kids to focus on homework after school.
• We love our huge family room/kitchen/dining area but we need different lighting scenes to suit all the family’s differing activities.
• Its really important to highlight the statuette in the feature alcove; we bought it on honeymoon in Bali.
• There’s a lovely old garden feature we rescued from mum & dad’s garden we want it to be tastefully lit and clearly visible from the lounge.
• We need good clear light for when we read in the evening..
• We’d like to leave a low level light on the landing and in the bathroom at night so the children and grandparents can find their way to the bathroom easily.
• We want to be able to sometimes create a ‘disco’ feel in the evenings whether it’s the kids or the grown‐ups who want to party. And of course, a sophisticated restaurant atmosphere in the dining room for entertaining.
• We want every light source to be individually addressable by “smart” control and to change colour.
• We’d like seductive lighting in the bedroom – when we get precious time for ourselves.
We can work with you to create a truly lovely home atmosphere
