Home offices (and offices in general) often suffer from an overabundance of general
illumination. This causes more harm than good. All too often, overhead fixtures
in offices are fluorescent…which produces harsh, flickering light that causes
squinting and eye strain when trying to view detailed subject matter such as
documents. Do not use fluorescent lighting in your home office. Also common,
home offices will have one or more high-wattage overhead fixtures that shine
directly into the eyes of anyone in the room. After a few hours, this will
also contribute to eye strain.
For anyone that works for long hours at a computer, controlling general
illumination, task lighting and glare cast onto the monitor surface is critical.
As little light as possible should actually reach the monitor screen surface.
Also, if you use a glass-front monitor, take care not to have brightly
lighted art
or walls behind your desk (in the reflective path of the monitor) as this is
a primary source of glare. Ideally, accent lighting can be used to provide gentle,
reflective light from behind the screen to minimize the sharp contrast and reduce
eye strain. Table lamps and windows can be effective in this capacity as well.
Home offices may still make use overhead lighting without necessarily over doing it
with general illumination. Consider the use of track lighting to spot light other
task areas (printers, fax machines etc.) as well as art on the walls while preventing
direct glare at the primary desk. As always, all overhead lights should be put on dimmers.
Special Circumstances (The Closet Office)
Fairly recently, many apartments, condos and new town homes include a small, dedicated
space (about the size of a walk-in closet) as a home office. Typically, this is a
windowless room and it usually includes cabinets so that it might be used in another
capacity. Consider under cabinet lighting as an additional lighting source in these
rooms as shadows will invariably be cast on the work surface from any overhead light
source.
Meeting with Clients
Successful client meetings should be as comfortable as is practical in a work
environment. Lighting should be gentle yet functional. Pendants over a small
table and two chairs or possibly a freestanding floor lamp will help define a
‘meeting place’ within the home office where you can sit at length and casually
discuss client needs etc.
Once you stop taking cues from the designer of your previous corporate office,
lighting is a straight forward matter. Time spent designing an office lighting
plan will be quickly paid back in time saved by increased productivity and
reduced fatigue.
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