Control Room Lighting

Let’s shed some light on this subject

You need an architecture firm that understands the evolving ISO requirements for control room lighting—a partner that will not only help your company meet requirements, but create an exceptionally ergonomic, modern, efficient and safe work space. Welcome to BAW Architecture.

BAW is constantly at the forefront regarding:

Selection of material finish colors to comply with ISO
ISO ceiling height and shape as it relates to reflectance values
Knowledge of how acoustics could be integrated with lighting
Light-to-dark dimming
Knowledge of finishes
LED fixtures
Color palettes (ISO guidelines require set standards, criteria that we adhere to no matter where we build around the globe)

Control room safety and efficiency benefit greatly from incorporating control room lighting best practices, which feature three distinct types of lighting—ambient, task and therapeutic—and BAW pioneered their use way back in the dark ages (the 1980s). At the time control room lighting was an afterthought, and rooms tended to be either dark and gloomy or flooded with light that created glare on highly reflectance monitor screens, interfering with operator view.

BAW’s insight at the time was to combine ambient lighting (the indirect, general illumination of a room) with task lighting (focused concentrated light over the work surface). This was revolutionary in control rooms then; it’s standard practice now. Projecting ambient lighting up vs. down (indirect lighting) created general illumination without high levels of contrast. The result was a soft, diffused light that resulted in almost no glare. Task lighting was integrated into custom consoles and aimed onto work surface, documents, including training manuals, OSHA docs, ship logs, permitting tags, etc., instead of bouncing off of screens. The result was an extremely efficient workplace that reduced operator error. BAW was once again at the forefront of a trend that has since been codified into industry standards as expressed in ISO 11064 lighting requirements.

The third type of light, one currently not required by ISO, is lighting therapy, a fatigue counter-measure that seeks to mimic the human circadian clock for 12-hour shift operators. Sunrise, mid-day and sunset are all represented. Some studies indicate cognitive abilities are enhanced by various strategies of lighting therapy.

Where the control room design skill comes into play is getting all of these amenities and provisions working together in concert. The lighting, acoustics, positioning of consoles, positioning of screens, finishes and colors are like separate sections of an orchestra.

Working together, they create an ergonomic symphony that is primarily highly functional, and just happens to be beautiful too.

Find out more about the 11 reasons why BAW is the global leader in control room design, or contact us to learn more about what our team can do for you.