Following on from his thoughts in Peter Davey's valedictory issue, in which contributors were invited to speculate on the future, services engineer Max Fordham considers lighting in the workplace and how it is evolving to meet the challenges of environmental responsibility. Before the Industrial Revolution, natural light was the only available option to illuminate the world of work. Rooms in which people worked tended to be tall with large openings to admit light. By the era of tall buildings, floor plates had increased to give deep plans, while storey heights had diminished. By then, however, electricity was available for producing artificial light. Just as the lift was essential for the development of tall buildings, so was electric light.
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