Flip the Switch
Lighting Design for Wellness with SAV Digital Environments
by Cassidy Mantor
Light is an intangible element of design that can have a dramatic effect on mood. A bright blue light can increase performance while a soft amber can help signal the body that it’s time to start unwinding. Beyond the obvious, light affects well-being. The golden hours of sunrise and sunset are tied to the circadian rhythms that enable us to function during the daytime and sleep at night. Bozeman-based SAV Digital Environments designs human-centric lighting (HCL) solutions that mimic natural rhythms and allow a person to adjust the mood in a room with a full range of advanced color and dimming capabilities.
“Did I stumble into some bad lighting? What’s wrong with me?”
–Cher Horowitz, Clueless
Task mode aligns with the rising energy of the day and is suitable for brewing coffee and getting to work. Meanwhile, sunset mode has the same physiological effect as the day coming to an end, inspiring cozy feelings that come with the evening wind-down practice of lighting a candle and settling into a comfy chair. SAV integrates HCL systems that are smart, simple, and drastically improve the comfort of one’s home.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
To understand the significance of SAV’s lighting design, we’ll venture back in time to the origins of the lightbulb. Thomas Edison patented the first commercially practical incandescent light in 1879. These bulbs delivered light through heat. The hotter they burned, the brighter they would shine in a way that mimicked the sun. More efficient halogen bulbs came next and could achieve cooler blues than the ambers of the original Edison bulbs. Most people grew up with these lights in their homes until fluorescent took over. Bred out of efficiency and developed for commercial use, fluorescent light delivered bright UV light in a compact tube. Unfortunately, they were not particularly wellness-focused, as they emitted UV light and contained mercury. When a bulb broke, everyone would have to clear the room while someone wore a mask and cleaned it up. There needed to be a better bulb and it was LED.
“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”
–Thomas Edison
Until LEDs were developed, light was a utility in the space and light tech development was driven by commercial applications. It was a means to an end for seeing things. LEDs enabled light to become a design component that packed a theatrical punch to a space. Energy-efficient lighting could now be designed to emphasize architectural structures, textures, and artwork, as well as create an emotive experience in one’s home.
SCULPTING THE ROOM: LIGHTING DESIGN
“If there’s a dark room with a candle, you’re drawn to the light,” says Joseph Hodge, SAV’s Lighting Division Manager and Chief Designer. “Humans are hard-wired to be drawn to contrast and light is a great way to pop the texture out of plaster walls or a tile backsplash. In our extremely digital world, when you can illuminate brushstrokes in a painting and the peaks and valleys of paint on a canvas, it gives us that dimension that we lose in our modern world.”
Instead of using a four-can ceiling fan to light the center of a hallway, light can be used more subtly to create interest near the hallway. “We have to reprogram our thought processes to realize that you don’t need the floor lit, you need the space lit, which can be done in a different way than how we traditionally think of light shining directly down,” Joseph says. SAV takes a layered approach of ambient, task, and general lighting to connect to the human experience. “There’s a reason why sunrises and sunsets are so beautiful and it’s because the light is coming in at an angle.”
“Humans are hard-wired to be drawn to contrast and light is a great way to pop the texture out of plaster walls or a tile backsplash.”
–Joseph Hodge, Lighting Division Manager, SAV Digital Environments
Joseph has a background in theater and transitioned to architectural lighting and he has built his career exploring how to artfully create drama with light. “There is an emotional response when we walk in a room, but people don’t always know how to articulate that what they’re feeling is coming from their lighting,” Stephanie Gilboy, Technology Advisor at SAV, shares. “Now with new form factors and abilities in lighting, we have the technology to fine-tune the color and intensity of white light to better mimic the outside brightness.”
COLLABORATION: LIGHTING AS THE LAST PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
SAV is on a mission to shift the paradigm so that partners understand that lighting is as essential to a home’s function as the design. Often perceived as an unseen luxury, lighting design is customized to the individual client’s needs, personality, and character. Every person and place has a different rhythm and pulse and thus, a different lighting preference. As the final piece in the home design puzzle, lighting adds the final layer of finesse and function and brings the entire experience to fruition.
The firm partners with architects, interior designers, and builders to create lifestyle-focused environments that will best suit their clients. In this project pictured, SAV worked closely with Centre Sky Architecture, Design Associates, and Big Sky Build to bring the vision to life through seamlessly integrated technologies. The team gets deep into the details with integrated technologies so their clients can focus on enjoying best-in-class lighting. “We have intelligent technology that can deliver a different output and color at 8am than noon,” Stephanie shares. “It’s very exciting to have the technology that can help us create a space that resonates with our human element.”
“The ultimate purpose {of invention} is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.”
–Nikola Tesla, My Inventions
Similar to a museum, SAV approaches lighting as a way to create mood options and accentuate the owner’s art collection. At a recent event for Emerson Bailey, they explored Ketra, a museum-quality dynamic lighting that stands apart from other residential technology. Ketra runs an algorithm behind the scenes that delivers light aligned with the GPS coordinates of the house and an astrological clock based on the outside temperature and what the sun looks like throughout the day. Another feature is the “vibrance filter,” which amplifies red light and creates a flattering environment. “Every lamp is a small computer,” Joseph shares. “Your home’s light can be more than an on-and-off switch.”
“Lighting is by far the most important element of successful architecture. To be able to control lighting enables a designer to create the experience desired.”
–Susan Weiss, Founder & Principal, Emerson Bailey
TRADE PARTNERSHIPS
SAV Digital Environments collaborates closely with local partners, such as Urbaine Home and Emerson Bailey, among others. Beyond just working with these partners on design-build projects as well as lighting designers, they also integrate products like Ketra into select partner showrooms. This approach not only highlights the capabilities of premium lighting solutions but also allows clients to experience the transformative power of great lighting first-hand.
As Susan Weiss, founder and principal of the design and antiques studio Emerson Bailey, explains, “Lighting is by far the most important element of successful architecture. To be able to control lighting enables a designer to create the experience desired.”
“Working on a home with SAV allows us to understand our nearly limitless possibilities with regard to sound, lighting, window coverings, controls, and an overall ambient experience. The SAV team are experts in their fields, and their collaboration with designers manifests an overall superior product for our clients.”
–Rain Houser, Co-owner & Lead Interior Designer, Urbaine Home
Rain Houser, co-owner and lead interior designer of Urbaine Home, also explains how partnering with SAV helps them deliver next-level design for their clients. She says, “Working on a home with SAV allows us to understand our nearly limitless possibilities with regard to sound, lighting, window coverings, controls, and an overall ambient experience. The SAV team are experts in their fields, and their collaboration with designers manifests an overall superior product for our clients.”
SEE FOR YOURSELF
“Ultimately, it comes down to how you’re feeling when you walk in a room,” Stephanie says. She acknowledges that clients can become fatigued about all of the choices that accompany building a home. It’s what motivates SAV to collaborate with their partners. They filter the technology and better serve their clients.
At the intersection of design and tech, lighting design is an informed decision a person can make with their home. “We want everyone to be aware of how substantially we can change the way people experience their homes,” Joseph says. “We have the most fun working with clients to show that when you combine the placement of a light source and the light technology, you can create exponentially enjoyable results.”
To see those results, SAV is currently building a luxury residential showroom in Big Sky to showcase a full range of lighting options from entry-level smart lighting to premium. SAV is looking forward to more people having epiphanies as they create different lighting effects and notice the emotional responses they elicit. Quite literally, the new showroom is a place where lightbulbs will go off in clients’ minds as they understand the effect of a fully-integrated HCL lighting experience.
