THE 'LIGHT FIELD' CONCEPT AND THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL REALITY OF LIGHTING

摘要

Conventional photometry seeks to represent lighting as a two-dimensional phenomenon, and it is proposed that this is a reason why lighting engineers are often excluded from involvement in architectural design. The "light field" is a three-dimensional concept that not only relates well to the ways in which designers tend to visualise lighting, but it actually gives insight into the way in which the °flow of light" interacts with three-dimensional form. The fundamental concept is the illumination vector, which is defined quite differently from surface illuminance and does not fit within conventional photometry. It engenders a different approach to illumination, putting emphasis on spatial variation of lighting rather than the conventional criteria based on uniformity. It is concluded that lighting engineers need to change not only the photometry they use but also their ways of thinking about lighting if they are to become participants in the architectural design process.