A critical report evaluating the lighting installations at Old St. Paul's Cathedral and the new Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul, using J.M. Waldram's designed appearance lighting method

Abstract

The lighting of an interior space is an essential aspect of design, for how the space is perceived, depends entirely upon how it is lit. The conventional approach to design lighting installation is the one used in most office buildings, where light is all that is required. In this method, the level of illumination on the working plane is specified, a lamp chosen and calculations made to determine the number of and spacings between the lamps to achieve the specified illumination. The completed installation works adequately enough, but lacks the interest and variation required by some architectural interiors. J.M.Waldram developed an alternative design procedure 'The Designed Appearance Lighting' method, for lighting an interior, whereby a preconceived appearance of the interior can be realised. Although it is only applicable to interiors which have a fixed and stable use, it is these that are generally the most important. In the 'Designed Appearance Lighting' method all of the important elements of the architecture, the decorations and the furniture can be recognised individually, enabling the designer to engineer the interior. The reverse, choosing the lighting equipment or system first, and then designing the installation around it, is a recipe for disaster.