At Helvar, we are human-centric lighting experts.
The lighting in spaces where we work, learn, and relax needs to be fine-tuned to our needs. Human-centric lighting can be tuned to imitate natural daylight, which means the lighting works in harmony with our body’s natural circadian rhythms. People who observe human-centric lighting benefit from improved mood, productivity and concentration¹ and typically report reduced workplace health issues such as eye strain and headaches.
We understand the impact light has on our wellbeing and functionality, so it’s one of our principal considerations when designing smart lighting controls and luminaire components.
What is human-centric lighting?
As human beings, we’ve evolved over many years with a single daylight source – the sun. In more recent years, we’ve adapted to spending almost 90% of our time indoors ⁵. This lifestyle change means that we typically spend less time in natural light, so this has a huge impact on our circadian rhythms. The circadian rhythm is our natural body clock – it is responsible for our daily sleep-wake routine. This rhythm is heavily reliant on the amount of light reaching our eyes.
Fixed lighting is unnatural, because traditional lighting isn’t designed to support our wellbeing. It lacks the ability to tune lighting levels. Modern and human-centric lighting controls, however, offer dynamic lighting features including brightness control and colour temperature control (DALI Type 8). By incorporating these dynamic features in an office, school or hospital, a human-centric lighting system more accurately emulates natural light, therefore supporting the circadian rhythms of everyone using the space.
The benefits of human-centric lighting
GREATER WELLBEING
The ‘Living Lab’ case study in London showed that after being subject to human-centric lighting for four weeks, users were “38% more calm, relaxed, laid-back, and at ease.”³
BETTER QUALITY SLEEP
Human-centric lighting is proven to directly positively correlate with the duration, quality and timing of sleep patterns ²
Human-centric lighting in the workplace
With lighting having substantial impact on our overall sense of wellbeing, it makes sense to invest in your people.
For many of us, the office can sometimes feel like a second home…
Most of us who have ever worked in an office have also experienced poor office lighting first-hand. Poor lighting has a negative impact on our mood, our performance and our general wellbeing. It even results in eye-strain, fatigue and headaches.
Studies report that circadian lighting has been shown to positively impact moods, productivity and motivation. In a recent study by Staples UK, 80% of respondents said that having good lighting in an office was important to them, and 32% of people reported they would be happier at work if they had better lighting in the office ⁶.
In any learning environment, concentration is key.
It’s much easier for students (and teachers!) to stay alert and focused if they’re working in an environment which is ergonomically designed. For instance, by starting the day with brighter, cooler white light can energise a class and stimulate activity. However, by dimming to a warmer white light later in the afternoon, it’s possible to encourage more relaxed discussions and wind-down for the day. By creating fine-tuned circadian lighting profiles through a human-centric lighting system, it’s ultimately possible to influence the productivity and performance of students.
Lighting which supports you when you really need it.
Human-centric lighting is commonplace in healthcare spaces such as hospitals and care homes. Studies have shown that there is correlation between human-centric lighting and an increase activity levels, as well as a reduction in recovery times resulting from dynamic lighting.
In dementia wards, human-centric lighting was shown to cause a 41% reduction in yelling, agitation and crying ⁷, whilst in general healthcare facilities, regulated colour temperature can promote stable sleeping patterns which in turn has a positive impact on length of stay – and colour temperature control can improve the visual working conditions for doctors and nurses.
Where else is our wellbeing important?
Well, everywhere! Whether you’re working in a warehouse, a hotel, a retail outlet, an airport, a museum or a cruise ship, your eyes still react to light. Circadian lighting can help create a natural ambience in hotel rooms, encouraging a good nights sleep for guests. It’s been shown to have an advantageous effect on night-workers in warehouses for the same reason ⁸. In fact, some airports have even introduced circadian lighting premium lounges to mitigate the effect of jet lag and re-energise travellers…
Helvar’s lighting solutions for wellbeing
The Imagine Router Solution
Imagine Endless Possibilities
With the Imagine Router Solution, you can design custom, connected lighting control for your office. Perfect for a meeting space, an entire floor or an entire building. Imagine integrates with BMS systems, offering incredible value through a range of scalability, flexibility, efficiency and wellbeing benefits.
Tunable White Drivers
Choose your colour temperature!
Tunable White is the ability to tune light colour temperature or full colour. Colour temperature is measured in Kelvin (K), and ranges from 1,000 (warmest) to 10,000 (coolest). Our iC range of Tunable White drivers are perfect for wired and wireless projects, which means they suit a variety of luminaire designs. Flicker-free amplitude dimming also helps support visual comfort for uses. The entire portfolio offers vast output current options and wide dynamic ranges.
Light over Time™
Human-centric lighting software
Light over Time is an innovation in Helvar’s Human Centric Lighting range, Intelligent Colour, or ‘iC’. This intuitive software brings a graphical lighting profile creation tool for dynamic Tunable White solutions, which can be easily customised to suit a range of applications – enabling lighting designers to create perfectly tuned Light over Time profiles matched to specific project environments.
Tunable White Solutions
Tunable White control on phone and tablet
With the ActiveAhead app on mobile and the RoomSet app on Android Tablet, you can control Tunable White with either DALI Drivers or the Freedom iC Driver. By configuring the wireless wall panels and ActiveTune settings, you can manage colour temperatures with ease.
Check out a few of our references
The Louis Poulsen office in Copenhagen acts as a showroom for human-centric lighting. Helvar Tunable White drivers in place throughout the building are co-ordinated by the Light over Time profile.
Louis Poulsen Headquarters, Denmark
“I’m often the first person to enter the office in in the morning. The stretch ceiling in the lobby turns on automatically. I experience a beautiful 4000 K light from the whole ceiling – and I get a bright, awakening feeling.”
Lars Hellström, Business Development and Strategy Director – Helvar
“We were keen to explore the use of colour-temperature Tunable White light in the studio. The aim is to add a level of physical and psychological comfort to a space where the team often work long hours.”
Iain Ruxton, Associate – RSHP
What is the WELL Building Standard?
The International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) is leading the global movement to transform buildings and communities in ways that help people thrive. IWBI created the universally recognised WELL Building Standard – a leading global rating system exclusively focused on the ways in which buildings, and everything in them, can improve comfort and generally enhance health and wellness, setting a benchmark for optimal building performance.
The WELL V2 Standard features 10 concepts of measurement, each of which has a number of preconditions and optimisations. Spaces are awarded points based on the number of concepts attained, with successful certifications awarded to entrants who meet the criteria for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Recent related news and blogs
Helvar Awarded Gold Certification!
Helvar HQ is the first new and existing interior to receive WELL certification according to the WELL Standard v2 in the Nordic countries and is the fifth to be certified in Europe.
Read more here
Supporting your rhythms with Light over Time