Smart, safe & sustainable

Commercial Design looks into why lighting automation is fast gaining a foothold, and how it’s bringing a tremendous change from the conventional systems in the post-covid world

Covid-19 has turned our personal lives and working worlds upside down. After months of forced participation in a comprehensive work-from-home experiment, our expectations around work and the workplace have fundamentally changed accelerating a trend already evident over the past two decades.

Like much else, the way we illuminate the spaces we inhabit is set to change along with our changed priorities after the pandemic. Pre-existing trends in workplace wellbeing, biophilia and online communication has already accelerated, while new uses of retail spaces, the high street and even the home will emerge. The design of lighting will have to respond to these shifts so that it plays a key role in articulating our new built environment.

One of the foremost trends is that workplace lighting will get more creative. This will be a megatrend in offices. Progressive employers will invest in their interiors, and statement lighting, to foster loyalty, belonging and community. The explosion of foliage within the workplace environment will emphasise an employer’s dedication to health and the environment. This biophilia trend is a challenge as it involves a balance between the plants’ needs and the aesthetics of the illumination. A wave of work-local offices in dormitory and regional towns – as major employers grapple with hybrid working and a hub-and-spoke footprint – will represent a new and exciting market for creative workplace lighting. A trend before the pandemic, the move to higher quality lighting – low glare, low flicker, higher colour rendering – will accelerate as wellbeing in workplaces becomes paramount and version two of the WELL standard becomes more popular.