Our visual understanding of the world is heavily impacted upon by architectural lighting design, a discipline encompassing architecture, art, engineering, psychology and social behaviour (Descotte, 2005). An example of this interaction between architectural design and social behaviour is observed as an everyday occurrence. Today’s dining experience has virtually been transformed into the perfect social and cultural act, resulting from ambiences deliberately conceived to create these effects (Vaquez, 2007). The recent refurbishment of the McDonald’s Fast Food restaurant on George Street, Sydney by the agency Juicy Design reflects the elegance of its newly uncovered space through careful lighting design and material implementation, without compromise to its brand identity. Every restaurant has three layers to their lighting design: ambience, task, accent; Of these, ambient and accent lighting inextricably intertwine to shape the ordering and dining areas of McDonald’s. Typically, fine dining restaurants have levels of ambient lighting as low as 50 lux1 (Veelite) to evoke drama, often in conjunction with carefully placed accent lights. By contrast, McDonald’s George Street has its dining area at around 200 lux, similar to the levels of a typical living room lit up at night. In this specific case, a brightly lit dining space has many tailored advantages. A 2012 study by Cornell University’s B. Wansink and Dr. Van Ittersum has shown that a brightly lit, low contrast environment correlates to higher food consumption within a shorter stay period when compared to typical restaurants. This may well be the key to maintaining a steady profit margin at McDonald’s George Street. (Herman, 2014). Other factors that contribute to this model of business are the placement of lights, colour temperature and CRI. Two types of recessed cans cast light from above. First type is mounted on wooden elements and white ceiling panels. They run parallel to the ordering areas in a comparatively denser layout2 to signify circulation and movement spaces. High luminous areas on the floor plane are produced in front of the counter accompanied by the hard edge countertop shadow – presenting a high contrast visual marker for consumers3. The second is comparatively warmer in light temperature and lights the majority of seating areas and circulation spaces. These fixtures are fixed on the matte red ceiling elements, resulting in a more luminous colour render of the red surface. The second type of fixtures are in fact a series of 18W warm white 2700-‐3500K LED down lights, a recent replacement to the not as energy efficient 26W CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) down lights (SSLI, 2014), emanating colour temperatures of around 4000K. 3000K in colour temperature was implemented to meet McDonald’s new
1 Veelite guide to light levels: bars-‐dining rooms: 50-‐200 lux;
CIBSE Recommended Illumination Levels: Restaurants and Canteens: 200 lux. 2 Density, in this case a higher quantity of lights occupying a smaller ceiling area light the main circulation spaces, affecting movement and rhythm by attracting people to move towards the area with denser lighting, commonly known as the Moth Effect (Croson 2011) 3 similar effect to the yellow line on a train platform, but in a more subliminal sense