This article explores how light distribution affects classroom environments and highlights its potential as a design parameter. While lighting intensity and spectrum have been widely studied due to recent technological advances, light distribution from children's vantage points has rarely been addressed. The study includes a survey of current classrooms, a review of school lighting guidelines and a pilot study exploring various lighting scenarios. Observations from six schools are summarized through sketches, followed by the development of six light distribution schemes at the children's desks. These schemes are evaluated using illuminance measurements and photo documentation and compared with software simulations (Dialux Evo 12). One outcome, relevant when designing for children, showed higher vertical illuminance for 1.00 m eye height than 1.20 m for the same horizontal illuminance under directional light. The results outlined the definition of six lighting scenes, achievable using one lighting system, to inform a field study on classroom lighting.

This literature review aims to identify and discuss research studies exploring lighting in school environments from 1980 to 2020. The article explores how methods and tools, attributed to various research fields, have been used in education-related studies. The review has shown a shift in focus related to light variables studied across the four decades, from daylight to electric lighting. Additionally, the methods used to evaluate and suggest new lighting shifted from participatory approaches to software simulations, resulting in a primarily mixed-method approach during the last decade (2010–2020). Lighting evaluations are at the forefront of research projects, followed by retrofit solutions and new design implementations. This approach reveals a gap in design processes to implement new lighting. The article discusses the importance of an interdisciplinary and mixed-method approach when working with educational environments, underlining lighting characteristics that require further study, and the importance of learning activities in connection to lighting. 

This design handbook outlines proposed steps and phases of analysis for classroom activities. The goal is to understand and create a basis for practicioners working with educational facilities regarding lighting design directions, concepts, and criteria. This work explores and presents a design process leading to lighting scenarios based on classroom activities for primary school pupils. 

This report investigates the photometric performance and energy consumption of four electric lighting alternatives for classrooms, aiming to identify energy-efficient and visually effective solutions for educational environments. Conducted within the framework of the LiSE (Lighting in School Environments) research project, the study compares traditional fluorescent tube pendants (Alt. 1) with three LED-based systems: retrofit LED tubes (Alt. 2), 60x60 cm LED panels (Alt. 3), and advanced LED pendants with controllable spotlight scenes (Alt. 4). Simulations were performed using Dialux Evo 11.1 software, based on real classroom conditions in a Swedish school, following the EN 12464-1:2021 lighting standards. Results show that all LED alternatives reduce annual energy consumption, with Alt. 3, achieving the highest savings (63%) and Alt. 4 offering adaptable lighting scenarios to support varied teaching activities. The study highlights the importance of integrating lighting controls and user-centered design to enhance visual comfort, energy efficiency, and functional flexibility in learning spaces.

The following dissertation explores lighting design proposals for educational spaces focusing on children's activities and vantage points. The research project includes a field study within which spatial distribution acts as a lighting variable for defining light scenes according to different learning activities and pupils' viewpoints. From a design and intervention perspective, pupils' experiences are incorporated through direct and indirect collaborations across the research project. Aspects of spatial perception, visual development, human scale, and ergonomics are among the research areas setting the foundation to explore children's perception and vantage points. Workshops, as participatory methods, were used to involve pupils and teachers in activities and discussions, before the installation of new lighting at the school. Lighting was designed, measured, and evaluated considering design parameters targeted at 10-to-12-year-old pupils. An experimental field study was carried out to assess how spatial lighting distribution influences creativity and attention, using standardized tests to explore potential correlations between lighting changes and performance outcomes. Results suggested that lighting can positively affect attention, although no significant difference was registered in creativity performance. The projects result in synthesizing guidelines towards a child-based design structure to explore and analyse educational spaces from a perspective closer to children. The proposed model (Child-lens Lighting & Space Model) is introduced, as an outcome of synthesized theories from architectural design, cognitive science and pedagogy, and empirical knowledge from the field study addressing pupils’ perspectives. This model provides a foundation for child-centred lighting design approaches, suggesting steps to design proposals through collaborations with children and pupils as the primary users.

Denna avhandling undersöker förslag på ljusdesign för utbildningsmiljöer utifrån elever aktiviteter och blickpunkter. En del av forskningsprojektet består av en fältstudie, genomförd på en skola i norra Sverige. I studien används en ljusvariabel för rumslig fördelning av belysning, denna användes för att skapa ljusscener som baseras på läraktiviteter som utgår ifrån elevernas perspektiv.

Elevernas synpunkter, ur ett design- och interventionsperspektiv, integreras genom direkta och indirekta samarbeten under forskningsprojektets olika faser. Dessa eleverfaser är definierade och följer principerna för design thinking-modellen. Aspekter som rumslig perception, visuell utveckling, mänsklig skala och ergonomi är bland de forskningsdiscipliner som utgör grunden för att undersöka elevernas perception och blickpunkter.

Bakgrundskunskap från forskningsfält som arkitekturdesign, kognitionsvetenskap, pedagogik, ergonomi och ljusforskning kombineras för att belysa den befintliga komplexiteten i utbildningsmiljöer och behovet av tvärvetenskapliga samarbeten föratt hantera interventioner och designförslag.

Deltagande metoder applicerades för att involvera elever och lärare, resultaten avdessa deltagande metoder ligger sedan som grund för installationen av den nya belysningen i skolan. Workshops var en av de främsta deltagande metoderna, bestående av aktiviteter och diskussioner. Dessa aktiviteter anpassades och följde skolans läroplan och värdegrund. Ljusdesignen utformades, mättes och utvärderades med hänsyn till designparametrar riktade till elever i åldrarna 10–12 år, med särskilt beaktande av skillnader mellan vuxnas och elevers ögonhöjd. Den rumsliga ljusfördelningen utvärderades genom en experimentell fältstudie där kreativitet och uppmärksamhet bedömdes med hjälp av standardiserade tester för att kartlägga potentiella samband mellan ljusförändringar och testresultat.

Resultaten indikerade att belysning kan påverka uppmärksamheten positivt, även om ingen signifikant skillnad registrerades i kreativitetsprestation. Projektet resulterade i en syntes av riktlinjer för en elevbaserad designstruktur för att utforska och analysera utbildningsmiljöer ur ett elevperspektiv. En föreslagen modell (Child-lens Lighting & Space Model) introduceras som ett resultat av syntetiserade teorier från arkitekturdesign, kognitionsvetenskap och pedagogik samt empirisk kunskap från fältstudien med fokus på elevers perspektiv. Denna modell syftar till att lägga grunden för ett elevcentrerat tillvägagångssätt och introducerar steg för designförslag genom samarbeten med elever som de primära användarna.

This study explores how lighting can be employed as a visual language to enhance communication between the space and its users and develop a design framework for educational spaces. A primary school is used as a case study to apply the proposed design framework. The study focuses on lighting interventions in existing educational spaces to support daily schedules and transitions between activities. In this context, electric light is used as an indicator, highlighting the daily schedule and activities in the space. A theoretical approach is used as a foundation for establishing the design framework that leads to lighting proposals based on the specific spatial characteristics of each study. The outcome is a design solution based on the dominant spatial elements that define the space’s identity and function. The study focuses on educational spaces and lighting for peripheral vision while considering pupils’ visual and spatial development. The proposal has the role of an additional light layer that signals transitions in terms of activities or spatial mobility.

This paper explores the use of participatory methods prior to designing interventions within a research project at a primary school in central Sweden. The approach presented in the paper is based on the principles of participatory design (PD), to enhance the use of these methods within the areas of educational research (ER), lighting, and architecture. This approach aims to include participants of educational spaces and incorporate their views prior to design interventions. Two workshops were designed to support teachers' participation through hands-on activities. Twenty-eight teachers participated in the workshops. Scale models corresponding to two of the school's classrooms were used to initiate discussions regarding the interconnection between spatial layouts, lighting, and learning activities. The workshops' data collection analysis assisted the research group in understanding the school's spatial and learning characteristics. The information gathered from the workshops provided additional knowledge and informed the research project in a way that allowed for further development and changes within the project related to the additional variables measured along with light. According to the analysis, there is a correlation between the activity and the desired layout of the space, while the type of equipment also varies according to the task. 

The present paper summarises tendencies related to research in lighting for school environments from 1980 to 2020. Methods and tools used to evaluate and analyse both daylight and electric lighting are presented. The studies in this literature review were grouped in four decades and are presented chronologically. The review suggests a shift from on-site evaluations in the early decades, both when using qualitative and quantitative research methods, to software-based research and analysis in more recent studies. during the past decade, there appears to be a general increase in both software and user-based techniques for evaluation and design of educational spaces. However, it is interesting that the lighting layout in classrooms does not show significant changes during the four decades since it follows the same grid pattern regardless of the changes in architectural, design and teaching tendencies.

Light modelling, simulation, and photometric calculations are by now common tasks in the lighting design process. These practices contribute to the definition and comparison of suitable layout arrangements and help predict the impact of lighting devices. Those tasks demand the use of tools to support the simulation of different scenarios, the analyses of their pros and cons according to different criteria (e.g., health and safety, perception, aesthetics, energy consumption, and costs), and decision-making. Digital twins have emerged as relevant technologies to simulate and visualize different “what-if” scenarios associated with physical entities and processes. In this paper, we investigate the state-of-the-art research concerning the use of digital twins for supporting lighting analysis in the urban/outdoor context. We also present and discuss challenges and research opportunities related to the design, implementation, and validation of digital twins in this domain. 

Light is the foundation of the visual perceptual process that initiates the evaluation of the surrounding area. Linked to various aspects and rhythms of the body, light connects us to both the natural environment and the interior space. The process of perceiving and assessing space for children and adults with different viewing heights and viewing perspectives as well as the role of light to facilitate this are the key elements of this study. The paper describes general lighting design strategies for kindergartens, specifically developed to create an environment that takes into account the children’s scale and cognitive processes. The objective was to discuss environments that support the child’s spatial perception along with shape and object recognition by means of lighting design, for example by creating distinct, well-placed shadows. The proposed strategies are informed by a literature review on the concepts and interrelations of light, human physiology and the perception of scale and space. In addition, our process also included visits to kindergartens to observe and analyse existing lighting as well as the use of simulation programs to test lighting scenarios and their patterns/distribution of light and shadow. The outcome described in this paper is a proposal and strategy to take into account children’s vantage points when designing lighting in kindergartens that is still open to practical interpretations in real-world sites.