Home Comforts
062 | RESIDENTI AL LIGHTING FOCUS
As part of our residential and garden lighting feature, darc sits down with a handful of leading designers to get their expert opinions on approaching lighting design in key areas of the home. We follow these industry opinions with a selection of manufacturer case studies that cover some of the latest and most stunning residential projects across the world.
Kitchen & Dining
Marcus Steffen, Founder of MS Lighting Design, started in lighting in 2004. Right from the beginning, he has had a passion for lighting spaces we live in; “I fell in love with creating beautiful spaces for my clients to enjoy”. Alongside his career creating lighting schemes, he also had the opportunity to teach interior designers about lighting as a guest lecturer for Inchbald School of Design and Chelsea College of Art. “I started MSLD in 2014 with the aim of providing a more tailored lighting design experience for residential and hospitality clients,” he explains to darc. “We have worked on projects ranging from super-lux mansions and penthouses, all the way down to small side returns on terrace houses.” With such a wide array of experience in the field, darc asked Steffen to impart some knowledge on how to light the kitchen and dining spaces in the home. To start off, we asked Steffen about the first things he examines when starting a residential project for a client. “With residential, budget is often not fixed, and can vary wildly, so we do not really discuss this at the beginning. We start with understanding how the client lives, how they will use the space, and what they are passionate about. We want to know where everything is going, so an interior design scheme is ideal, but often is not the case. I can’t count the number of times I have asked about the dining table position, and then had to tell a client it will not actually fit there. “Once we have a good understanding of what the client cares about, we can then put together a concept, to show them what is possible. Often clients have no idea about how transformative lighting can be, so we show them what is possible, then refine from there,” he says. It is important for Steffen to gain an understanding of the entire house and its design and the way it feels from the beginning. “I will start in
one room (either the main entrance or the main living hub) and design each room from there. I will pick out elements where I need light, and gradually build up a lighting scheme from there. I do find though that as we do this process, common themes get repeated throughout the property, tying it all together,” he explains. When broaching the scheme for the kitchen, the biggest priority for Steffen is to get the task lighting correct. “Look at how this is going to be applied to the work surfaces throughout the kitchen, and then also lighting for cupboards (though the illumination for these does not need to be as high as work surfaces). After this, we start to look at features and adding ambient lighting. We will break the circuits up, and almost always have an island/peninsula switched separately so it can be left on (dimmed down) for a night light.” When incorporating decorative lighting into a design, Steffen regards it as one of the most intrinsic elements that should be introduced at the start. “Sometimes it is just future planning for the wiring for decorative lighting, but other times the precise decorative light fitting is chosen at concept stage. “We make a really big effort to reach out to the clients’ interior designers and architects to get their input as well so we can resolve these discussions very early on. With the advancements decorative manufacturers are making in using LEDs in new and innovative ways it is becoming more important to decide earlier, since they are using a variety of dimming types as well. If we cannot get it planned then it is likely there will not be cables in place to allow the decorative fittings to dim.” Selecting the correct light fixture for the functional space and ensuring the client supports these decisions comes down to education. “One of our key company principles is ensuring clients can make informed decisions,” says Steffen. “We start with the light: where are we placing
