lighting design for passive homes
Passive home design (or Sustainable Home Design) is gaining popularity in Australia and the lighting design requirements for these types of homes are quite specific.
At MINT, we have been working on Passive homes, off grid homes and other sustainability focussed home designs for the last seven years. Our first passive home design was back in 2017 and we have learned a lot over that time about how to integrate our design experience with the requirements of these builds.
If you want to learn how we light these types of homes, read on!
When the most critical aspect of your house design is air-tightness, then it follows that you want to minimise holes in the fabric of your house as much as possible. We have noticed two common approaches to the installation of the air-tight membrane. One approach wraps the outer perimeter of the house, and everything inside is essentially “normal” construction. The other is where the membrane is right up close to the walls, and this approach means that any penetrations to walls or ceilings can be disastrous for the efficiency of the home.
Passive house design is all about air tightness, heat recovery, avoiding unwanted temperature loss or gain and designing your home to optimise natural light and energy. If you want a comprehensive understanding of the design and construction of these types of homes, here are some resources:
https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design
https://www.passivhausassociation.com.au/
https://passivehouse-international.org/index.php?page_id=79
https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/passive-house/design
Designing and building a sustainable home is a wonderful way to create a sanctuary for your family that supports them in living healthy happy lives – and with the right light choices you can have beautiful lighting in your home, without compromising your sustainability standards.
The simplest approach to a sustainable lighting design suitable for a passive home is to use only surface mounted light fittings. That means that there are no holes in ceilings or walls, and only the cable (which can be sealed around) comes through the walls and ceiling.
It’s important to note that we are NOT recommending simply replacing the ‘standard grid of lights’ in your ceiling with surface can lights. A standard grid of lights is not the right answer in any home!
Of course, not everyone likes the aesthetic of surface mounted light fittings. If you are one of these people, you need to explore options that are fully sealed, and can have insulation wrapped over them without degrading the performance of the LED light fitting. There is a technical code provided on all light fittings that can have insulation laid over them known as IC_4. The IC_4 rating states that the light fitting can be installed recessed into your ceiling, and then fully covered with insulation up against the light fitting (with some brands this also applies to the driver – although not many). If your recessed light fitting does not have an IC_4 code – then you must not cover that light with insulation as it will cause the light to fail faster.
The designed approach to creating a sustainable lighting design for a Passive home, or any home with a focus on energy efficiency, is to consider what you want to see in each room, and then explore different ways to create that light.
Building light into joinery is a great way to add light to a room, without penetrating any walls or ceiling. When done well, the visual interest created by highlighting your favourite things, adds life and soul to your room at the same time.
Linear light can be a very effective solution for bringing high levels of functional light to a room. As well as being a contemporary aesthetic, and at 2cm in size, the thin line of light on your ceiling is barely noticeable as a surface mounted solution. You can also build coves into your ceiling to conceal that light, without impacting on the air-tightness and bringing a superb luxurious feel to any room.
Surface mounted spotlights come in all shapes, sizes and colours and can bring much needed drama to a lighting design. Ideal for highlighting artwork features, providing functional light where it’s needed and guiding our attention to important features in your home. Spotlights can be as small as 35mm in diameter and less than 100mm long – which is tiny! Of course, they can also be large and as a result become an aesthetic feature in themselves.
Wall lights are largely overlooked in home lighting. Many people have only ever experienced wall lights as decorative features that create a light that is too soft to function by. With advances in LED technology, we can now generate huge amounts of light from wall lights, which can be cleverly reflected around the room bringing functionality to every corner. We can also use small, discreet wall lights to create soft low levels of light for late in the evening when we don’t want it to be too bright. Wall lights are not just for decoration anymore, they can do the hard work of your lighting design too!
Finally, pendant lights (suspended from the ceiling) open up a world of choices for your lighting design. From contemporary integrated LED pendants that can produce high volumes of light, through to delicate glass feature pendants that are more sparkle than light, balancing your selection of pendants (and decorative wall lights) throughout the home can provide function, as well as complete the interior design of your home and are ideal choices for a Passive house
MINT lighting experts LOVE this kind of detail and have years of experience with choosing great light fittings. We are here to help – so if you’d like a professional to take care of your lighting design, get in touch!