Commercial office lighting should always unite utility and aesthetics with designs that compliment the décor and artwork that makes the office a comfortable and productive work environment. Different areas within a corporation require different lighting techniques, but all lighting designs must follow this basic rule of “attractive practicality” to bring tangible value to a corporation.

The following summaries represent a few key points to emphasize in the many office environments that require lighting design and special lighting fixtures. If you are thinking about upgrading your company's lighting, be certain the vendor your select can accommodate these basic considerations in the proposal and install a system that is truly comprehensive and relatively maintenance free.

Executive Offices

Office lighting in executive workspace should reflect the privacy and fine taste that sets an executive area apart. Many executives decorate their offices with ornate furniture and priceless works of art that need specialty fixtures and high-end art lighting techniques. Task lights must provide glare-free task lighting over highly intensive paperwork and computer activity so managers and directors can concentrate on long-term projects without eyestrain.

Administrative Offices

Administrative offices and accounting offices require specific levels of office lighting levels that produce visibility without glare on computer screens. Cubicles and shared offices require some additional lighting effects that create the illusion of private space in one's personal area and minimize the stress of having to share small quarters with coworkers.

Boardrooms

Boardrooms tend to be highly focused facilities that sometimes need to point an audience's attention toward a white board or projection screen at one end of the room. The office lights here must illuminate the table for meetings but avoid distracting viewers from audio/visual presentations and guest speakers.

One thing that often improves a boardroom environment is to replace fluorescent panel lights with recessed ceiling lights tied to user-friendly dimmer switches. When the time comes for a presentation, the meeting facilitator simply has to dim the lights to levels optimal for viewing audio/visual media.

Break Rooms

Recessed kitchen lighting and selective cabinet lighting make for a better break room atmosphere that can motivate employees to eat lunch on premises rather than leaving for lunch and returning late. By replacing the blinding fluorescence of generic ceiling panels with a combination of down lighting and directional lighting, a more relaxed atmosphere can be created that helps motivate people to eat lunch at work.

Halls, Foyers, and Waiting Areas

The many finer points of interior decorating can be enhanced by selective use of specialty accent lighting and art lighting fixtures designed to add functionality to task and decorative appeal to art, statuary, and bookcases. In larger rooms with cove ceilings, any number of strip lighting fixtures with bulbs lamps from low-voltage xenon to LED can be installed to add the decorative touch of superior cove lighting at energy efficient levels.

By combining all of layers of light in the foyer, lighting designers can set the theme for an entire floor and extend that theme throughout the building, making subtle changes in each office to create individual lighting accents within the overall design reflective of corporate culture and branding.

It is essential that lighting specialists first assess the nature and activities of an organization and how best to use light as an effective servant of the business. Because light fills the room without consuming square footage, the margin for customization is as wide as the visual spectrum.

Always work with a vendor that offers extensive planning and consultation services prior to installing equipment. Lighting design means just that- design- and good design takes planning as well as execution to be effective.

It helps if your design firm holds vendor relationships with more than one leading manufacturers of office lighting fixtures. A diversity of equipment offerings will help form a solid product base to turn your company's personal vision for lighting into a concrete reality.