Analysis of Occupants’ Visual Perception to Refine Indoor Lighting Environment for Office Tasks

Ji-Hyun Lee, Jin Woo Moon and Sooyoung Kim
Additional contact information
Ji-Hyun Lee: Graduate School of Culture Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Korea
Jin Woo Moon: Department of Building & Plant Engineering, Hanbat National University, Daejeon 305-719, Korea
Sooyoung Kim: Department of Interior Architecture & Built Environment, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea

Energies, 2014, vol. 7, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: The combined effects of color temperature and illuminance in a small office on visual response and mood under various lighting conditions were examined in this study. Visual annoyance tests were conducted using a sample of 20 subjects in a full-scale mock-up test space. Computer and paper-based reading tasks were conducted for 500 lx and 750 lx illuminance levels under 3,000 K, 4,000 K and 6,500 K conditions. Two hypotheses were considered for the test in this study. The primary hypothesis was that visual perception is affected by the color temperatures of light sources. The secondary hypothesis was that better moods, such as relaxed and cozy feelings, are associated with low color temperatures given equal illuminance levels. The visual environment under the 3,000 K condition was characterized by glare and brightness, resulting in visual discomfort when target illuminance was higher than 500 lx. Occupants preferred 500 lx under the 6,500 K condition, and 500 lx and 750 lx under the 4,000 K condition, reporting better visual satisfaction when performing office tasks. Prediction models for visual comfort suggest that the less that subjects are visually bothered by light during tasks, the more visual comfort they feel. User satisfaction with light source color is critical for the prediction of visual comfort under different lighting conditions. Visual comfort was the most influential factor on mood. Lower color temperature was associated with better mood at lower illuminance levels, while higher color temperature was preferred at higher illuminance levels.

Keywords: color temperature; illuminance; visual response; reading task; office; visual comfort; mood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/7/4116/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/7/4116/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:7:p:4116-4139:d:37564

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().