Natural and Artificial Light Balance Questions Checklist

For each room, note what is happening at the moment somebody first turns a light on, and what they were struggling to see.

The switching moment is the clearest available evidence of where daylight falls short, and it is free to gather.

Compare rooms facing different directions and note which run out of daylight first, and which stay usable longest.

Orientation produces very different demands across one property, and it is often the reason one room feels wrong.

Record what happens in each room on a dull overcast day, since that is a more useful test than a bright one.

Schemes planned around bright conditions leave rooms uncomfortable for a large share of ordinary days.

Note how differently each room behaves in winter and in summer, and record both rather than whichever season you are in now.

A room surveyed in one season gives half the picture, and the other half is the harder one to design for.

Note who in the household turns lights on earliest, and what they are doing at the time.

People differ considerably in what they find comfortable, and a scheme has to serve the household rather than one person.

Keep a simple written note over a run of ordinary days of when each room needed light, rather than trying to recall it in the meeting.

A short record is far more persuasive than an impression and takes very little effort to keep.

List the rooms and spaces that need light on during the day, including internal bathrooms, larders, utility spaces and inner hallways.

These spaces are lit for far longer than the rest and deserve more attention than they usually get.

Note where a room is deep enough that its far end stays dim while the window end is bright, and mark where that line falls.

The dim end of a deep room is where furniture ends up, and it is rarely lit deliberately.

Where a room has been extended or wraps around a corner, note which part lost its daylight in the process.

Extensions frequently darken the original room, and the effect is easy to see once you look for it.

Note what stands outside each window that reduces the daylight reaching in, such as a wall, a fence, a tree or a neighbouring building.

Outside obstructions explain many indoor complaints and are the first thing a professional will want to know about.

Note whether any obstruction changes through the year, such as a tree in leaf, and record both states.

A room can be perfectly comfortable in one season and dark in another for reasons entirely outside the building.

Record that these spaces need a daytime setting that sits comfortably beside the daylight in the rooms around them.

Light that looks right in the evening can look wrong at midday next to a bright adjoining room.

After dark, stand where people sit and note what the windows reflect back at you with the present lighting on.

The reflected room is a real part of the evening experience and is never shown on a lighting plan.

Note where a room has a large area of glazing, since the reflected image there can dominate everything else after dark.

Big glazing that is loved in the day can feel like a black mirror in the evening, which surprises owners.

Note which fittings appear in the reflection and whether they sit in anyone's eyeline when seated.

A fitting reflected in glass is effectively a second fitting, usually at an unhelpful angle.

Decide whether you want to see out into the garden or street in the evening, and record that as a requirement.

Seeing out at night depends on keeping the inside relatively low, which is a design decision rather than an accident.

Walk outside after dark and note what can be seen into the property, and whether that affects what you want lit.

Privacy in the evening is closely bound up with the lighting arrangement and is rarely discussed at the right time.

Note any light outside the property that enters the rooms after dark, such as a street lamp or a neighbour security light.

External light already forms part of what a room looks like at night, particularly in bedrooms.

Mark every rooflight on the ceiling plan and note how much ceiling is left for fittings once they are shown.

Rooflights take up exactly the part of the ceiling a lighting layout would otherwise use.

Ask how a room lit from above in daytime should be lit at night, since the daylight direction cannot be repeated.

Rooms that feel wonderful under a rooflight often feel flat in the evening because nothing replaces that overhead light.

Note where tall glazing leaves very little solid wall, and record where a wall fitting or a switch could actually go.

Glazed walls remove the surfaces a scheme normally relies on, and the shortage is noticed late.

Where fittings and controls can be positioned around glazing must be confirmed with a qualified electrician and the glazing installer.

Note the depth of the reveals and the colour of the frames, since both affect how daylight spreads into the room.

A deep dark reveal narrows the light entering, which can make a large window feel smaller than it is.

Note whether daylight from a rooflight causes glare on a screen or a work surface at any time of day.

Overhead daylight can be as troublesome as it is welcome, and shading is easier to plan alongside the lighting.

Ask who is coordinating the glazing and the lighting, since they are usually drawn by different people at different moments.

The gap between the two drawings is where fittings end up in impossible positions.

Any change to glazing itself must be discussed with suitably qualified professionals, and what applies locally must be confirmed.

Look at the same wall in daylight and in the evening and describe the difference in plain words for the discussion.

Your description in ordinary language is more useful to a professional than any attempt at technical terms.

Note the places where colour judgement genuinely matters, such as a dressing area, a working surface or where paint is compared.

Colour matters intensely in a few places and hardly at all in others, and saying which is which focuses the effort.

Note where daylight and electric light will be seen together in one view, such as a room lit at one end and glazed at the other.

The two are compared directly in these positions, which is where any mismatch becomes obvious.

Decide whether you want a consistent character of light across the property, or a deliberate change between rooms.

Inconsistency by accident is common when fittings are bought separately, and it is easily avoided by deciding first.

Look at paint, tile and fabric samples in the room itself at several times of day rather than under showroom lighting.

Samples judged elsewhere behave differently in your rooms, and the difference is largest in rooms with little daylight.

Write down whether you prefer a warmer or cooler feel in the evening, and in which rooms, without attaching numbers to it.

A recorded preference in plain words gives the professional something to work with and to challenge if necessary.

Record what covers each window now, how often it is used, and whether it is drawn for privacy, for darkness or for warmth.

The reason a covering is used tells the professional what the room is really asking for.

Note where a curtain track, pole or blind box would sit in relation to any planned ceiling or wall fitting.

Tracks and fittings compete for the same strip of ceiling, and the clash is usually found during fixing.

Note which rooms need to be properly dark and who sleeps there, recording it as a requirement rather than a preference.

Darkness requirements affect coverings, glazing details and the position of any indicator or standby light.

Note how coverings are used in their in-between states, since blinds are frequently left partly down all day.

A blind that lives half closed changes the daylight in the room permanently, and nobody records it.

If motorised coverings are being considered, ask what they need behind the wall and raise it with the electrician early.

Supply and control for motorised coverings must be arranged by a qualified electrician before walls or ceilings are closed.

Note how much light each covering fabric lets through when closed, looking at it in place rather than in a sample book.

Sheer and lined fabrics behave very differently, and the difference is most obvious in the room itself.

Note the part of the day when there is not quite enough daylight and full electric light feels wrong, and say which rooms it affects.

This transition is where most schemes are least satisfactory, and it is rarely mentioned in a brief.

Record which rooms would benefit from light that supplements daylight rather than replacing it, and where it would be aimed.

Supplementing daylight usually means lighting the dark end of a room rather than the whole of it.

Describe the settings you want at different times of day by what is happening, rather than by which fittings are on.

Settings described by activity survive the design process, while settings described by fittings lose their meaning.

Ask how the change between settings would be handled in practice, and pass the answer to the electrician rather than deciding it.

How settings are controlled, dimmed or automated must be determined by a qualified electrician for your installation.

If automatic control based on daylight has been suggested, ask what happens on a dull day and who can adjust it later.

Automatic arrangements are only useful if the household can change them without calling someone in.

If light and sleep or comfort are a concern for anyone in the household, note that and raise it with a professional advising that person.

This belongs with someone qualified to advise the individual rather than with a general lighting discussion.

Nothing in a lighting brief should substitute for advice from a suitably qualified professional where health or sleep is a concern.