Under The Focus Of Light

publicado em: 22/06/2013

Modern-day life routine has been imposing new habits very quickly – either out of necessity, or because of the fact that new tastes arise with technological, behavioral, and social changes, among others.

In this scenario, interior design has been one of the areas most impacted by the new characteristics of contemporary life. After all, the interior home space has gotten a lot more status and importance in people's quality of life.

Therefore, interior design projects have to provide answers and solutions to contemporary issues, new paradigms, new needs. Apart from that, technological appeal is another factor that has significantly contributed to a real change in the concept of these projects, as the innovations the industry offers are varied and, as incredible as it may seem, they begin to meet specific demands coming from niche audiences, something that was unthinkable at the height of series production;

One of the areas that have been revolutionizing interior design is lighting. Lighting an environment is no longer a mere complement, an item used to enhance spaces. Today, lighting accounts for a great deal of what we want to add to an environment, for the quality of the experiences we have in that space, and for the possibility of customizing it.

Therefore, the world industry has offered diverse products that consider aesthetics, performance, economy and, let us celebrate this, quality of life.

The novelties technological evolution have brought about come to offer particularities capable of customizing the scene and serving very specific needs or tastes. You cannot conceive a project without special and planned attention to lighting, as light offers colors, shadows, nuances, it emphasizes details and creates specific scenes for spaces for leisure, rest, study, meals, work, etc. Depending on its intensity, lighting can make the environment more yin or yang.

Environment
Maitê Orsi warns that fluorescent lamps contain mercury, which can contaminate the physical, biological, and anthropic environments at several levels. One of the most striking examples of environmental contamination that caused many deaths is that of Minamata Bay, in Japan. There, however, the government and the community put a noteworthy and broad environmental recovery and medical care program in place.

Because of the mercury, fluorescent tubes must be disposed of in specific places, and cannot have the get destination as common waste. In Brazil, there are companies qualified for recycling them operating out of Paulínia-SP, Indaiá-SC, and Curitiba-PR. When used in industry and trade it is easier to manage the disposal of the product, particularly on account of the specific legislation involved. In residential use, however, this has been a topic of discussion. To date, there is no public policy for disposing such lamps, nor a National Environment Council (CONAMA) regulation for recycling them.

A UN report released in Thailand states that Brazil needs to take three actions to contain global warming: Contain illegal deforestation, Invest in clean energy, such as wind and solar thermal sources, and apply energy efficiency techniques to reduce waste, investing in the use of economical lamps. Several manufacturers have already received UN approval for a program to reduce CO2 emissions by using more efficient lighting.

Interior designer Maitê Orsi holds a graduate degree in Lighting Design and is a Feng Shui consultant