Types of residential lighting

Residential lighting refers to
the provision of lighting in spaces used for day and night life.  Living spaces can be detached bungalows,
apartments, terrace houses or semi-detached houses.  The lighting needed in a residential area
is both day and night
lighting.

Artificial lighting and
natural lighting

Daytime running
lights can be either artificial or natural. 
Artificial lighting is provided by lamps and other luminaires.  Lamps can be chandeliers, ceiling lamps,
floor lamps, table lamps or lamps. 
Natural light is provided by daylight capture through windows or
skylights.  Natural light is often
claimed to be very superior to artificial light because it should affect the
physical health of the inhabitants in a positive
way.

Types of artificial
lighting

When designing a home, it
is important that you choose a large selection of lighting instead of just
choosing one type of lighting.  Task
lighting, accent lighting and general lighting are different types of
lighting that should find a place in your lighting schedule for a living
room.  Each of these types can enhance
your living space in a unique way.

Task lighting
is best used when you need a special task space lit.  A good example of this is a work table or a
stove.  Ceiling lamps or table lamps
are best suited for this, although floor lamps can also be used for
this.  An important aspect of work
lighting is that it must produce enough light in the work area close by,
without producing too much heat.

Accent lighting
is primarily for decorative purposes and is used to highlight paintings and
such wall-mounted art, or plants and other interior details or
landscaping.

General lighting, also called
ambient lighting, is used to illuminate an area without focusing on any
particular space.  Usually, luminaires
hung from the ceiling, table lamp or floor lamp will provide general or
ambient lighting.

Methods of
lighting

The most common lighting
method in living spaces is downlighting, which means that the light is thrown
down, from the ceiling, either from luminaires or recessed.  Another method is backlighting, which is
much less common than backlighting.  It
is used to reflect light from the ceiling and downwards, to obtain uniform
brightness and to minimize glare. 
However, it is not considered economical.  Front lighting is another method, but it
makes the subject appear without dimensions because almost no visible shadows
are formed.  Backlighting is also
common and is mainly used for accents.