Webinar: Guidelines for Specifying Light Fixtures in WELL Projects; What to Consider and What to Avoid

Please join the  IES Boston and Rhode Island Section for a presentation by Shahrzad Abtahi and Caitlin Toczko on specifying light fixtures for WELL projects. As members of the lighting community, we keep hearing about  the WELL standard. There has been an explosion of interest in the idea of buildings as health intervention tools. This new standard focusing on human health crossed the 205 million square feet threshold for registered and certified projects in 39 countries around the world and it is becoming a popular trend in the building industry.

One chapter of the WELL standard is dedicated to lighting. It provides guidelines for minimizing disturbance to human body’s circadian system, increasing productivity and providing appropriate visual acuity. The new version of WELL (i.e., V2) provides more flexibility and options for lighting designer to illuminate a “WELL lit” space.

WELL defines new standards for visual comfort and it adapts new metrics for circadian rhythm lighting. Achieving these goals would only be possible by specifying pertinent products for each application. Although these guidelines are fairly straightforward, and it’s been about 1 year since the release of V2, it seems that gathering all required data is not easily feasible for lighting designers. Despite the high demand, many lighting manufactures don’t provide all the required information that lighting designers need for specifying right fixtures for WELL projects.

This seminar gives an overview of the lighting requirements in WELL standard and  will focus on key factors that lighting designers need to consider before specifying lighting fixtures. It provides practical recommendations and strategies for both lighting designers and manufacturers who are interested in WELL or are working on a project pursuing WELL certification.

Shahrzad Abtahi is the director of lighting design at Lightcraft and she is the head of Lighting Group at Boston’s office. She was one of the first lighting designers to earn WELL accreditation and teaches lighting and design courses at Suffolk University and Boston Architectural College. She is a frequent speaker at multiple lighting and architectural conferences throughout the country. In march 2018, Shahrzad was named as one of North America’s top 40 under 40 lighting designers under 40 by lighting magazine.

Caitlin Toczko is a senior lighting designer and project manager with Lightcraft. Her work includes ambitious WELL and LEED projects for Yale, UConn, Fairfield University, Mathworks, WorkBar and Delos. Caitlin holds an M.S. in Architectural Sciences with a Concentration in Lighting from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is an associate member of the International Association of Lighting Designers and a professional member of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.