Trends In School Lighting PDF Download

In the middle decades of the twentieth century (1930s-1970s), societal concerns and national crises had significant effect on developments in American lighting theory and technology. This thesis examines that relationship through a discussion of the changes that occurred in lighting recommendations and applications for factories, offices, and schools--environments that were considered particularly important because of their impact on the large number of Americans who spent their days working or learning in them. As societal perspectives changed over the course of the decades, the lighting industry's recommendations correspondingly addressed the issues of greatest public concern. It will be shown that during the first half of the century, there was a strong focus on increasing workplace productivity, particularly during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, when the crises of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War dominated public concerns. The development of new lighting technologies and theories during these decades was therefore directed towards creating a work environment in which productivity would be optimized: one of the clearest illustrations of this focus in the 1930s through 1950s was the trend of ever-increasing recommended lighting levels for workplaces and schools, since brighter light was equated with increased productivity. With the divergences in national focus that arose during the 1960s, this single-mindedness in the lighting industry began to waver, as some lighting professionals began to question whether such bright light in the work environment was really beneficial, though most continued to stand by the accepted conventions. Finally, the concentration on workplace productivity was decisively overtaken in the 1970s by new concerns for environmentalism and energy-efficiency that arose after the global energy crisis of 1973. Faced with a shifted paradigm bringing entirely new problems to solve, the lighting industry began to address the issues through technological developments and innovative applications, while gradually lowering the recommended lighting levels in the decades that followed.