Your Design Guide: Home Office Lighting

Varsha Raghunandan - August 24,2021

Your Design Guide: Home Office Lighting

With more and more companies moving to a “work from home” approach, it is important to curate a home office that both encourages concentration, while feeling comfortable as a living space.

General or Ambient Lighting

For a wash of light in the home office, select a flush downlight or an oyster light.

Elekzon’s Uluru 401 produces up to 2200 lumens, adequately illuminating a study room or office space. It comes with a tricolour switch, with the cool white option being suitable for increased visual clarity in the home office. The PMMA diffuser softens the light output, reducing glare and strain on the eyes. The Uluru 401 is also dimmable. Pair the oyster with Elekzon’s push-button dimmer to control the brightness and glare when needed.

Similarly, our Daintree 101 is a flush downlight, also suitable for a wash of light as it has a wide beam angle of 90 degrees. It also has a tricolour switch as well as a polycarbonate diffuser to achieve low glare.

Recessed Lighting

To further reduce glare in home office areas, recessed downlights are the way to go. Deep recessed lights produce a narrow beam angle which does not target the line of sight directly, but instead lands on working surfaces. This reduces glare and eye strain, allowing you to remain alert yet comfortable during long hours of work or study in the office.

The Australian standard for residential lighting is to have a Unified Glare Rating (UGR) of less than 19. Elekzon’s York and Daintree ranges of recessed downlights include features such as reflectors, baffles, and varied beam angles to achieve a low UGR.

Baffles

A recessed downlight with a baffled interior is an excellent solution to reducing glare and softening harsh lighting. The baffle has a ribbed interior which traps and controls light, diffusing the edges of the light beam to reduce strain on the eyes.

Reflectors

Matt reflectors (otherwise known as haze or satin reflectors) also help to control glare while maintaining optimal brightness. This is made possible by the electrochemical treatment of the downlight’s aluminium interior. This treatment process creates a thickened layer of the metal’s natural oxide coating, creating a matt finish. This matt surface removes glare from the light, while still boosting brightness due to the metal’s reflective properties.

Baffles

Made possible by the electrochemical treatment of the downlight’s aluminium interior.

Reflector

Gimbal Downlights

Gimbal downlights can also be angled towards the working surface for concentrated task lighting.

The Daintree 809-2 has a 25 degree vertical tilt, making it highly adjustable to suit a variety of working arrangements.

When angling gimbal downlights towards the working surface, it is best to angle them from either side of the task area, rather than directly in front. If downlights are placed in front of the task, the light will reflect from the working surface into your line of vision, causing strain on the eyes.

Light Level and Colour Temperature

In offices and study spaces, it is important to optimise lux levels for increased alertness. Lux is a measurement of lumens per square metre. For general lighting in living and dining spaces, the recommended illumination level is 50 - 150 lux. However, in a home office, we recommend that you select light fittings between 320 - 400 lux.

Another way to optimise clarity and alertness when working from home is to select fittings with 4000K (cool white) colour temperature. This colour temperature is ideal for reading as it provides a crisp white light, clearly illuminating documents and other task work.

Table Lamps

Using accent lighting in your work space can improve the style and comfort of your home office. A table lamp helps as a source of concentrated task lighting, while adding a decorative touch of personality to the space.

Ensure that you situate the lamp appropriately so that it does not create shadows on your work surface. For example, if you write with your right hand, placing the lamp on the right side of the desk will cause your hand to cast a shadow on the page. Instead, place the table lamp on the left of your desk to avoid shadows when writing.

Get started on your home office lighting design by checking out Elekzon’s range of lighting: https://elekzon.com.au/collections/all-products