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How to Create Daylight with Artificial Light
We often get asked to create a feeling of “daylight” in a dark and dingy room, but what exactly is “daylight” and how can you design it into your project?
People love and have evolved under daylight; depending on your location on earth we all have a slightly different experience with daylight and a different expectation. Natural daylight changes in intensity, direction and colour temperature over the course of days and seasons. Daylight can also come in the form of a warm, bright direct sun, or a diffused cold, cloudy sky.
If you are trying to create a real feeling of natural light inside a room it is important to balance all the different characteristics of natural light, allowing for some dynamic changes in the way light behaves with a space by utilising both accent light (direct sun) and diffused light (cloudy day).
Daylight Design
In order to replicate daylight in the best way to achieve this is with a series of layers utilising a neutral white or colder, high-output light and a separate warm white light.
We achieve “daylight” with backlit ceilings or large area lighting and using “tuneable” white lighting technology that shift in colour temperature and intensity with lighting controls. This type of light will fill a space with a blanket cover of diffused light with little shadow.
In most cases this is supplemented with a warm white accent or directional “sunlight”, offering an effect similar to direct sun – by creating shadows and warmth. In most cases this is mounted from the side to replicate the direction of a setting sun.
In order to achieve true daylight is important to consider some form of lighting controls that will allow dimming between different lighting layers. This can be achieved with advanced lighting controls or simple light switches and/or Bluetooth.