Lighting Design For Special-Needs Children In Interior Spaces

Abstract

Optimal lighting design for the rooms used by children with special needs requires a consideration of the psychological and aesthetic effects on these children. Lighting design in general is the process of integrating light into architecture to provide comfort, safety, and aesthetics. When designing lighting for children with special needs, certain criteria and considerations must be set out to ensure that the design matches the children’s needs. The interior designer must apply the appropriate scientific methods and systems to reach the desired psychological and aesthetic goals; this process includes studying the basic criteria for designing light and using modern optical systems to reach the best results, according to the children’s activity inside the room, with the possibility of applying standards, considerations and laws related to light to develop basic suggestions for the design of interior lighting. The aim of this research is to determine the best techniques, methods, and standards of lighting for the rooms of children with special needs. It evaluates practices and latest technologies related to the process of designing interior lighting for children with special needs, including lighting that allows them to accomplish their tasks while also feeling safe. The research method depends on the descriptive analysis by studying the principles of both natural and artificial lighting and their standards and considerations, followed by the statistical analysis by modeling two different spaces for children with special need: a private bedroom and a public space for activities in which children with different disabilities can interact. A questionnaire was used to explore the opinion of specialists in the field of interior design about the two different modeled spaces. The results shows that good lighting design can provide ease of functionality with a sense of comfort and safety, meanwhile achieves the aesthetics of the interior design. The employment of artificial lighting with natural lighting is important to achieve a healthy environment upbringing for children in general and for people with special needs as well.

Keywords

• lighting
• design
• indoor
• spaces
• children
• special needs