Light and air
Lamp
housingretailschoolworkshopstreet frontage
A source of artificial light inside the building, hanging, recessed or on a table, that also lets light out onto the street through doors and windows.
What it solves
It allows living at night and complements daylight. The light that a house or a shop gives to the sidewalk makes the street safer and friendlier.
Today
Use warm, low-consumption light in layers, general and focused, with the beam pointed where it is needed. Let some of that light reach the sidewalk without glare.
Common mistake
Lighting with cold, uniform ceiling light that dazzles and does not let people rest.
Tomorrow
Warm outdoor light, low and aimed at the ground, protects neighbors’ sleep and the lives of birds, insects and bats. Switching off or dimming what is not in use matters as much as the lamp itself.
Fact An LED lamp uses at least 75% less energy than an incandescent one and lasts 35 to 50 times longer.
Where it comes from
- 1Paleolithic hunters Lascaux, France, more than ten thousand years ago
One of the oldest known stone oil lamps was found in its cave. - 2Rome Roman Empire, 1st to 3rd centuries
Mass-produced clay oil lamps carried to every province. - 3China China, Warring States period
The oldest known lamps in the country. - 4India Indian subcontinent, of diffuse origin
Lamps of stone, shell and later clay and metal, present in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Light and air
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.