This is a legacy version of the WELL Building Standard. Please check the latest version here.

Visual lighting design

Visual lighting design

Intent: 

To support visual acuity by setting a threshold for adequate light levels and requiring luminance to be balanced within and across indoor spaces.

A Policy Document is only required for projects where Part 1c applies. If average ambient light is below 300 lux [28 fc], the provided policy document should confirm that task lights are available upon request.

The owner must provide a compliant lighting system throughout the entire building, including all tenant spaces. Access to tenant spaces is required to conduct testing during Performance Verification, however, lighting provided by the tenant is excluded.

Where Feature 53 specifies "the horizontal work plane," this applies to both seated and standing desks. For instance, this horizontal work plane could be located 0.76 m [30 inches] above finished floor for a seated desk or 1.12 m [44 inches] for a standing desk as an estimate.

No. While the lights in the space must meet the lux levels referenced in this feature, dimming capability is not required.

Brightness management contrast is evaluated by the WELL Performance Testing Agent by reviewing the professional narrative submitted as part of documentation. There are no specific parameters the project must meet, but the professional narrative must demonstrate that brightness contrast conditions are factored in. For general guidance on typical contrast ratios, projects may refer to ANSI/IES American National Standard Practice for Office Lighting (RP-1-12).

Only the ambient light levels in Part 1a are measured during Performance Verification. The project team should perform calculations to verify that task lights (if required) produce the necessary levels of illumination, but these details do not need to be submitted for review.

No, this feature does not require lighting to be dimmable, but does allow the project to dim lights in the presence of daylight. In order to confirm compliance during Performance Verification, the interior lighting would need to meet the lux/foot-candle requirement without the help of daylighting.