The Home-Office Lighting Kit

Sammanfattning: This Master Thesis, inspired by the relevance that home-offices have assumed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, originated from the architectural, quantitative, and qualitative analysis of lighting within the author’s student accommodation on KTH Main Campus, in Stockholm (Sweden). As a matter of fact, this background study proved that recommended lighting levels (Illuminance, Contrast Ratio, CCT, CRI, M-EDI, and DER values) were not met, making the space unsuitable and unhealthy to both live and work in. Moreover, evaluating individual lighting preferences, it was demonstrated that flexibility, customizability, and adaptability to daylighting and tasks are fundamental requirements for working from home.Considering the temporary nature of students’ leases, the idea of developing an inexpensive and easily assemblable kit of smart products, aimed at improving lighting in dormitories, came quite naturally.To study the implementation of visual comfort and focus on tasks, literature review, market analysis, quantitative measurements, and hands-on experiments were carried on.Thus, with the gained knowledge and experience, the Home-Office Lighting Kit, an array of commercially available sockets, shades, and smart sources, supporting circadian rhythm and individual preferences, was proposed. Along with it, instructions on set-up and scenarios were provided.Although the overall conclusion was that the market needs products with a better balance between price, sturdiness, and reliability, the lighting conditions within the case study space were substantially improved, making other students interested in doing the same.Eventually, interesting cues for the sector’s development were proposed.