Quality of life in the best light

By Ulrike Keller In TU Graz's LightLab, an interdisciplinary team from the fields of architecture, light design and psychology are conducting research on the lighting systems of the future in close collaboration with the lighting industry. Light isn't just here so we can see things. Due to scientific findings of the last ten years, we know today that light controls our internal clock and thus also our cognitive and psychological functions, such as mood, performance and concentration by means of photosensitive receptors in the eye. Against this background, architectural light design plays an increasingly important role. After all, we spend up to 90% of the day in rooms with artificial illumination. Lighting systems of the future. In the LightLab (lab for spatial light research) at TU Graz's Institute of Spatial Design, a team of architects, light designers and psychologists are examining the effects of different light situations on our quality of life.