This study investigates the expansion of library as a public space,
the changing needs of the visitors and how to personalize and
enhance their library experience through activity zones specific
ambient and task lighting. The growth of library functions in the
modern and future libraries will be taken into focus, defining the
activity zones and visitor needs in a library environment. In order
to enhance the experience within the four different activity zones,
specific atmospheres through light presets were generated. This
study includes two experiments - the lab and the field test. The lab
test explores the preferences for correlated colour temperature
(CCT) for 10 subjects in regards of both ambient and task lighting
in four function zones - the work, cave, play and chat zone. The
lab test was conducted in a laboratory with no daylight access,
furnished with furniture relevant to the activity zones. The lab test
results showed that the most preferred CCT either neutral or cool,
with 3600 K and 5300 K winning for the ambient and task light in
all of the activity zones. However, 3600 K was mostly preferred for
task lighting. The lab test findings did have a number of biases
regarding the light intensity, placement and changing dynamics.
Therefore, the results were taken into consideration but not for
changing the presents in the field test. The field test was
conducted in a natural library environment - a below ground level
room of a Swedish library with no access to daylight. The space is
a part of the library with daily visitors, however not as much used
as the other areas so nudging guide signs and face to face
invitations were required. During the four-day test period, an
overall of 112 individual answers were marked down in all of the
four zones. The testing area included the four activity zones (work,
cave, play, chat) with function specific furnishing and an option to
pick between four light presets via an application on a tablet
computer. The presets were a combination of both ambient and
task lighting, differing in intensity, direction of the spot and CCT.
The field test results indicated that the set activity zone light
presets were almost the same as what the test subjects preferred.
The experimental results thereby confirmed that different light
presets are preferred and needed for different activities. This
project is carried out in cooperation between the following
partners: Aalborg University Copenhagen, Fagerhult and Halland
County in Sweden. It was initiated in September 2017 and ended
in May 2018.
Keywords: library, future library, activity zones, activity specific
lighting, human-centered lighting design, dynamic lighting,
individual preferences, correlated colour temperature, light
presets, light atmospheres, personalized lighting.