I was recently wandering around the web rooting through building and design related sites and came across a reference to John Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture intrigued by the title, I decided to do some more digging and came across one of the foundations of architecture over the last 150 years.

I’ve not yet read the book, just some of the reviews and write ups scattered around the web, but it looks like fascinating stuff.

In the book, Ruskin expresses his belief in the nature and role of architecture and its aesthetics in relation to both current and future human existence.

The lamps of the title are the various modes by which architecture produces meaning – various perspectives from which we should seek meaning in the buildings we experience. The lamps can be used to judge and evaluate our buildings.

The seven lamps are:

• Sacrifice,
• Truth,
• Power,
• Beauty,
• Life,
• Memory,
• Obedience…

One of Ruskin’s key charges is that in society (and don’t forget this was written in 1849) our material concerns out-weigh spiritual concerns – the body now tends to supplant the soul in our priorities.

In consideration of material concerns we must include contemplation of technology and the great gains made in this aspect of materiality since the industrial revolution. As such technology can blind us to spiritual concerns in pursuit of the material. We can fail in our spiritual obligations.

I found this particularly attractive and very relevant quote:

“The idea of self-denial for the sake of
posterity, of practising present economy for the sake of
debtors yet unborn, of planting forests that our
descendants may live under their shade, or of raising
cities for future nations to inhabit, never, I suppose,
efficiently takes place among publicly recognized motives
of exertion. Yet these are not the less our duties; nor
is our part fitly sustained upon the earth, unless the
range of our intended and deliberate usefulness include,
not only the companions, but the successors, of our
pilgrimage. God has lent us the earth for our life; it
is a great entail. It belongs as much to those who are
to come after us and whose names are already written in
the book of creation, as to us, and we have no right, by
any thing that we do or neglect, to involve them in
unnecessary penalties, or deprive them of benefits which
it was in our power to bequeath.”

John Ruskin 1849

…Ruskin, a Victorian with green credentials?

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At the heart of our lighting design we should place the central concept of the relationship between day and night, light and dark that lies within our most natural rhythms.

This is a complex discipline in that the direction of the sun at given times of the day & the year, the orientation of a building, weather conditions, the quality of glazing and many other variables will all influence the quality and amount of light that reaches the subject. I hope to touch on some of the factors of importance when starting your consideration of lighting in the healthy house.

Although little conclusive evidence is as yet available, studies suggest that the negative health consequences of improper lighting may include; stress, headaches, fatigue, as well as decreases in sexual function and increases in anxiety levels.

In considering light, we are not only interested in the effects of over or under illumination, but also the spectral composition of light. Research indicates that full spectrum lighting may, in the same way as natural sunlight act to boost the immune system and perhaps provide a positive health benefit.

What is full spectrum lighting?
The sun is a huge emitter of electromagnetic radiation (EM). This EM radiation has many wavelengths each of which has differing properties. Visible sunlight occupies a range of wavelengths that our brains interpret as the primary colours and that when combined make up white light or daylight. Full spectrum lighting includes the full range of visible sunlight. Tungsten bulbs, for example are stronger in the red part of the spectrum and weaker in the blue so can tend to make distinctions between dark blues and black difficult.

So what do we need to avoid and what should we look to include in our healthy house lighting design?

Avoid

• Glare caused by light sources (including the sun) striking reflective surfaces.
• Flickering light sources.
• The inability to vary light levels to provide adequate levels of lighting for tasks, for example, over-lit relaxation areas or under-lit work areas.

Include

• Daylight wherever possible – our sight has evolved to use it so works best with it! There are other health benefits to direct sunlight such as the production of vitamin D.
• Where daylight is not available, full spectrum lighting options should be considered.
• For occasional or zonal lighting consider low energy LED lighting options.

Bear in mind that windows of one of the greatest sources of heat loss, so glazing systems need to be as energy efficient as possible and excessive provision of glazing avoided. Glare and over-heating of rooms are also a potential risk on sunny days.

One end of the heating — cooling continuum, heating is one of the hottest (sorry about the pun!) topics when it comes to healthy and green building.

The optimum temperature within our healthy home, lies somewhere between 15 & 25 Degrees Celsius. The exact temperature will vary dependant upon a number of variables. These variables include surface temperatures, air moisture levels, circulation of the air and the nature of any heat emitted in the environment.

The provision of warm surface temperatures is a key to providing healthy green heat. If we are able to heat surfaces rather than the volume of air, then we are able to maintain achieve comfortable levels of heating with a lower and healthier air temperature. So what is so bad about air heating as opposed to surface heating?

• Warmer air temperatures reduce concentration, whilst increasing skin moisture levels and tiredness.
• Warm air heating systems have been linked with transmission of common viruses, increased occurrence of headaches and reduced circulation.
• Warm air heating is inefficient in that as warm air rises, the whole volume of air in a room needs to be warmed, including that above the heads of the occupants to ensure that the warm air reaches down to the occupants.

Lower air temperatures also make essential ventilation less of an issue. The energy loss when ventilating is lessened as the difference between the warmed internal & cooler external air temperatures is likely to be less.

Methods of surface temperature heating include pervasive systems such as underfloor heating as well as more focussed & targeted systems such as wood or multi-fuel burning fires. Some degree of air heating is inevitable in all heating systems, but these systems can provide efficient, effective and green methods to increase surface temperature.

Having fed my lime pointing addiction over the last few weeks, my overall approach is established:

To begin with the lime mortar is generally sound, if crumbly in places and needing some attention.

After hacking back there are some deep areas needing extensive filling and other areas that remain mainly intact.

Pointing is done using a 3:1 local sand to lime putty mix. The deeper areas have been filled with pinnings (small pieces of stone) and packed with lime. The joints are left roughly pointed.

After a number of days to go off, the lime mortar is hard enough to finish with a wire brush to give clean defined joints and an overall smooth undulating finish to the wall. Sharp joints and changes to levels are avoided to prevent shadowing and opportunities for water to pool.

Our comfort zone, in terms of the optimum temperature within our healthy home, lies somewhere between 15 & 25 Degrees Celsius. The exact temperature will vary dependant upon a number of variables, which include surface temperatures, moisture in the air, movement of the air and the nature of any heat emitted in the environment.

To maintain the optimum temperature we must obviously consider both heating and cooling:

At its simplest, cooling of the occupants of a building can be achieved through appropriate positioning of the occupants, provision of opening windows and the employment of fans.

The thermal mass of a room, as defined by the mass of the dense structural elements of the room can be utilised in passively cooling air temperature during the day. Heat will flow from the warm air into the cooler structural elements, reducing air temperature by up to 3 degrees Celsius. The system must be reset over night by ventilating the structure with cooler night air and in doing so reducing the temperature of the thermal mass.

Mechanical cooling options are extensive, but are difficult to justify on green or sustainable grounds and are thus considered beyond the scope of this article.

Garden design can assist in keeping property temperatures in check – carefully placed deciduous trees can block up to 90% of the suns rays in the Summer and even when bare of leaves in the Winter up to 50% or so. Similarly, climbing plants will provide additional shade. A well planted garden will have a cooling effect brought about by transpiration from the leaves of plants.