Louis Poulsen: Business Pleasure Hideaways, 3 36

Create a welcoming atmosphere
with decorative lighting
For every mood we want to create, for every moment we want to
make the most of, there is an ideal balance of darkness and light,
of focused and ambient lighting, and of the light’s temperature
and intensity. In settings in particular, where the ultimate goal is
to bring memorable experiences to diverse groups of people
with very different reasons for being in a given space, thoughtful
illumination is essential.
A lounge or reception area can be intimate and inviting when
subtly and warmly lit; to maintain that ambience, it’s essential not
to oversaturate the space with light. A futuristic sushi restaurant
with a conveyor belt is joyful when the focused lighting on the
food is bright enough to show off its rainbow of colours, but
dim the lights too far and the food begins to look uniform and
decidedly less appealing. A mirror in the hotel bathroom can
either delight the guest as he or she prepares for an important
dinner, or throw things off course with light that shows too much,
too brightly. Imagine any space with different lighting, and it be-
comes clear why many architects and designers call lighting the
fourth dimension of architecture.
Here, we explore the ways in which lighting can enhance our
everyday, and offer inspiration from interiors that perfectly shape
the mood with illumination designed around the way people move,
travel, eat, interact, work and play.