Open plan living broke the single ceiling light. When a kitchen, a dining area and a sitting area occupy one room, no central fitting can serve all three, because each activity needs light at a different height, a different intensity and a different position. The conclusion of this layout report is that ceiling lighting in open plan British homes has to be planned by zone before any fitting is chosen.<\/p>\n
The corollary is that the ceiling cannot do the whole job. In the open plan ground floors created by rear extensions and new build layouts, ceiling fittings should handle the kitchen and the dining table, while the sitting area is better served by light at seated level. Trying to light a sofa from a high ceiling is the most common reason an otherwise well designed open plan room feels like a corridor after dark.<\/p>\n
British homes acquired open plan ground floors mostly by removal: taking out the wall between two reception rooms, or extending to the rear and opening the kitchen into the new space. The lighting inherited from that process is usually a single pendant point in each of the original rooms, positioned in the centre of a ceiling that no longer has a room around it.<\/p>\n
Once the walls come out, the geometry changes fundamentally. Light from a central point falls off with distance, so a fitting that lit a 3.5 metre room adequately leaves the far end of a 7 metre room dim. Worse, in the middle of a long room a single bright source creates a bright core and dark ends, which reads visually as a tunnel.<\/p>\n
The other change is behavioural. One room now hosts cooking, homework, eating, television and conversation, often simultaneously and often with different people wanting different levels of light. That is a switching and control problem as much as a fittings problem, and it is why we treat separate circuits per zone as the foundation of an open plan lighting plan rather than a luxury.<\/p>\n
Light is the cheapest way to divide an open plan room, because it costs no floor area. The technique is to give each zone its own light source at its own height, so the eye reads three defined areas rather than one undifferentiated space.<\/p>\n
The kitchen sits highest and brightest. Recessed downlights or a linear fitting positioned over the working edge of the worktop, rather than over the centre of the floor, keep the person preparing food out of their own shadow. Where an island is used for preparation as well as seating, pendants over the island need to light the surface without dazzling anyone seated at it, which means a shade that directs light downwards rather than a bare bulb.<\/p>\n
The dining table sits lower and warmer. A pendant or a cluster hung 75cm to 90cm above the tabletop creates a defined pool of light that makes the table feel like a room. Where the table is long, a linear fitting or three smaller pendants spaced along its length distribute the light more evenly than a single central shade. Fittings from our ceiling and chandelier lights UK<\/a> range are chosen partly for this drop range.<\/p>\n The seating zone sits lowest of all. This is where ceiling lighting should recede and lamps should take over. A floor lamp beside the sofa arm and a table lamp on a side table produce a pool of light at seated height, which lowers the perceived ceiling and makes the sofa feel enclosed. Our floor lamps UK<\/a> and table lamps UK<\/a> ranges exist to solve this specific problem in open plan rooms.<\/p>\n The Nationally Described Space Standard sets a minimum floor to ceiling height of 2.3 metres for at least 75 per cent of the gross internal area of new dwellings. That figure has direct consequences for pendant selection in modern open plan homes.<\/p>\n At 2.3 metres, a pendant hung 90cm above a 75cm high table leaves its lowest point at 1.65 metres from the floor, which is roughly eye level for an adult standing up. That is acceptable directly over a table where nobody walks, and unacceptable anywhere on a circulation route. It is why low hung pendants belong over tables and islands and nowhere else in a low ceilinged room.<\/p>\n Period properties with taller ceilings have more freedom, and a longer drop over a dining table in a 3 metre high room can look considerably better proportioned. The rule to carry across both cases is the same: measure from the table surface upwards rather than from the ceiling downwards, because the relationship that matters is between the fitting and the surface it lights.<\/p>\n Flush and semi flush fittings solve the walkway problem. Where a ceiling is 2.3 to 2.4 metres and the area is used for movement, a flush fitting or recessed downlights give general light without intruding into the space people occupy.<\/p>\n The table below sets out the approach we recommend for each zone in a typical open plan British ground floor. Heights are mounting and drop dimensions rather than performance measurements.<\/p>\nCeiling height is the limiting factor<\/h3>\n
Zone by zone lighting specification<\/h3>\n
| Zone<\/th>\n | Primary light source<\/th>\n | Mounting or drop height<\/th>\n | Colour temperature<\/th>\n | Control<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen worktop<\/td>\n | Recessed downlights or under cabinet strip<\/td>\n | Ceiling level, positioned over the worktop front edge<\/td>\n | 3000K to 4000K<\/td>\n | Own switch, dimmable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Island with seating<\/td>\n | Pendants with downward shades<\/td>\n | 75cm to 90cm above worktop<\/td>\n | 3000K<\/td>\n | Own switch, dimmable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dining table<\/td>\n | Single pendant, cluster or linear fitting<\/td>\n | 75cm to 90cm above tabletop<\/td>\n | 2700K to 3000K<\/td>\n | Own switch, dimmable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Seating area<\/td>\n | Floor lamp plus table lamp<\/td>\n | Shade base around seated eye level<\/td>\n | 2700K<\/td>\n | Switched at the lamp or a socket circuit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Circulation route<\/td>\n | Flush fitting or downlights<\/td>\n | Ceiling level, no drop<\/td>\n | 3000K<\/td>\n | Shared with general lighting<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Feature wall or shelving<\/td>\n | Wall lights or directional spots<\/td>\n | Around 150cm to 170cm for wall lights<\/td>\n | 2700K<\/td>\n | Own switch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nWhat this means for UK homes<\/h3>\nPlan the zones before the fittings. Sketch where the sofa, the table and the working worktop edge will actually be, then place light sources against those positions. Fittings chosen first almost always end up in the wrong place, because a ceiling point installed for a room that no longer exists is rarely where a table wants to sit.<\/p>\n Split the switching. Three separately switched and dimmable circuits in an open plan room deliver more usable comfort than six fittings on one switch. Being able to leave the kitchen bright while the seating end is low is the whole point of zoning.<\/p>\n Keep low hung fittings off walkways. Over a table or an island is the only place a pendant should drop into occupied space. Everywhere else, use flush fittings, and remember that in a room at the 2.3 metre minimum there is very little room to negotiate.<\/p>\n Use light temperature to reinforce the zoning. A neutral white in the kitchen and a warm white at the seating end will make the two ends of the room feel different even when both are lit. Mixing temperatures within a single zone, on the other hand, looks like a mistake.<\/p>\n |