What Light Does: reflecting on the active social effects of lighting design and technology

The studies about the social effects of lighting describe lighting as an important social means and an agent that can influence people emotional, behavioural and social experiences despite cultural, social and individual differences. A cross–cultural analysis of studies about lighting report that higher lighting levels induce greater arousal, activating louder conversations or a more general communication meanwhile a domestic environment with low lighting levels influences more relaxed and intimate disclosure. Certain lighting atmospheres are appraised as more hospitable for people, while some patterns of lighting distributions can affect people proxemics. In this paper, we investigate the active role of lighting in setting the social relationships between people by providing a theoretical framework based on an extensive literature review and by presenting the results of several designed lighting probes. From the user confrontation through qualitative and quantitative analysis, we reflect on the sociality of lighting that act for social intimacy/inclusion or social exclusion, with a subtle agency on people.