by Brianna Crandall — May 7, 2014—In its first guide to cover the sphere of religious facilities, the Society of Light and Lighting, part of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), has launched Lighting Guide 13: Lighting for Places of Worship. The guide offers direction to lighting engineers, designers, specifiers and students in creating successful lighting schemes for these important buildings.
In preparing the guide, which focuses on giving proven solutions to practical problems, lead author David Holmes MCIBSE MSLL, lighting applications manager at Hiclare, commented that the success of an installation should be judged not by light meters, but through the eyes of those who perform and participate in the ceremonies therein.
As places of worship vary considerably both in size and design, this important new reference document stresses the importance of applying the correct source of lighting as it is accurately to achieve a specified luminance, and examines different building layouts. The publication attempts to give guidelines for electric lighting for the majority of types of places of worship found in most towns and cities, treating such diverse building types as Anglican and Catholic churches, mosques, synagogues, monasteries and convents, chapels, Quaker meeting houses, and Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh temples. Associated areas such as offices, vestries, boiler rooms and bell towers are also covered.
Lighting Guide 13: Lighting for Places of Worship (SLL LG13) is available from the CIBSE Knowledge Portal.
