Users’ experiences of lighting controls: A case-study

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to elucidate how occupants perceive their lit environments in a university setting and how they interact with lighting controls using qualitative methods. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with academic teaching and research staff. Thematic analysis identified four main themes: control and choice, connection with the outdoors, concentration and comfort. Participants were largely able to control and adapt their lighting using small power lighting in office spaces and they perceived this as beneficial to comfort and concentration. Participants expressed frustration with the light switches in classrooms, and a lack of consistency in lighting controls across the university buildings was particularly notable. Installers should consider how piecemeal upgrades on large estates affect the perception of buildings where occupiers face multiple control systems. The management of the lighting in classroom spaces including the type and location of blinds, lack of regular window cleaning in some buildings and difficulty in minimising light on projection screens in upgraded classrooms were cited as areas for improvement. Wider implications for lighting control and management highlighted by this study include most notably that a lack of end users consultation has serious consequences on their perception of lighting upgrades and their willingness to employ 'workarounds.'

A review of select human-building interfaces and their relationship to human behavior, energy use and occupant comfort

“…Several studies that apply end-user testing to existing interface design have found that many current products are difficult to understand by users. When light switches are simple and easy to adjust by occupants, users can more easily achieve their preferred light levels [106]- [108]. Interestingly, users are generally very tolerant of their existing lighting configuration, even when they would likely not accept it as a new configuration [107].…”

“…Someren et al [106] performed interviews with university staff of the lighting of lighting services and identified the lighting of interfaces as one of the largest sources of complaints. The researchers reported multiple usability issues including that light switches are inconsistent between rooms, the majority of light switches fail to meet basic visual impairment and accessibility requirements, the lighting interfaces regularly confused and delayed the building users, and that features such as dimming or zoning were not obvious and where often unknown by users.…”

Dynamic Lighting in Classrooms: A New Interactive Tool for Teaching

“…By applying mixed methods, the findings of this study elucidate how the visual effects related to coziness and visibility play a large role in both the teachers' and students' sense of well-being and comfort. Whereas preferences of lighting scenes have previously been studied in lab-tests [2], this study contributes to the existing field [2,4,5,14] by conducting it in a field-study where daylight is a co-founding factor. In the preliminary study prior to the refurbishment, the light was subconsciously a part of the teachers' everyday practice of the classroom.…”

Understanding how indoor environmental classroom conditions influence academic performance in higher education

“…In these FG discussions, students were allowed to respond to and build on the comments of other students, which resulted in a similar collection of experiences as those of lecturers. Similar sample sizes for interviews were applied by Van Someren et al (2018) and for FGs by Granito and Santana (2016). The lecturers who were invited to participate in this study were randomly selected out of a list of 42 lecturers who had taught in one of the classrooms described above for at least one year.…”