david k warfel
It is late at night- too late- and I am weary from a solid stretch of too much work and not enough rest. It feels too familiar. When I am this tired, I tend to ruminate on my purpose in the world. Recently, I have come to believe that my purpose in my professional life... Continue Reading →
My latest story published on Houzz.com (link below) features photos from Houzz's deep archive of photos and a sketch that simplifies patio lighting into six ideas. Writing the articles is a fun challenge. How do I make lighting design digestible? Any suggestions you have are welcome. 🙂
We used to have a better language for light, but lately we stick to words like LED, lumens, and color temperature. Necessary, perhaps, but not particularly inspiring. In history, we used words like Helios, Prometheus, Zeus, and Ra that belied our dependence on light. We organized our temples, our festivals, our stonehenges around light. We wrote... Continue Reading →
Sometimes I get questions that seem simple but are complex to answer. A recent Houzz reader asked me "what spacing should I use for my recessed downlights?" Yep, this post is definitely on the practical side. Hmm. A lot of "designers" have rules of thumb for spacing downlights- perhaps you need one for every so... Continue Reading →
Adapting to changing lighting conditions is so critical to the human visual experience that we have a body part designed just for this task- the iris. Each eye has a constantly changing aperture- opening- that allows us to see easily at sunset and at mid-day. The iris allows us to appreciate a candle-lit dinner and... Continue Reading →
If you or someone you know suffers from Social Jet Lag, Ambient Light may help. Talk to your doctor before using Ambient Light. Possible side effects include... I can hear the television commercial extolling the virtues of the latest miracle drug, Ambient Light. It energizes you in the morning! It is clinically proven to reduce the... Continue Reading →
If you have a ceiling, you may want to consider lighting it. Especially if you can incorporate some variation to the ceiling, and one of the techniques discussed on my Houzz article.
"Do we really need all those lights?" If you ask me to help lay out lighting for your living room (or kitchen, or bedroom, or bathroom...), the probability of me increasing the quantity of light fixtures is about a million to one. Increasing the quantity of lights does not mean there will be more light,... Continue Reading →
Please note that I am not a doctor, nor a lighting researcher. I am a designer trying to understand how the gift of light works on our mind and bodies. Light will help you heal faster! Light will improve your test scores! Light will reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Dementia! Light will help you relax... Continue Reading →
When my wife was expecting our second son, I turned my remodeling do-it-yourself muscle towards an unused room occupying our former attached garage. Hastily turned into an extra room by previous owners, the space was all but unusable and served as a storage room while we remodeled the rest of the house. Now, with our... Continue Reading →
the language of light 