This is a legacy version of the WELL Building Standard. Please check the latest version here.
  1. Light
  2. Color quality

Color quality

Features>Light>58. Color quality

58. Color quality

Light color quality impacts visual appeal and can either contribute to or detract from occupant comfort. Poor color quality reduces visual acuity and the accurate rendering of illuminated objects. For instance, foods, human skin tones and plants may appear dull or unsaturated under lights that have low color quality metrics.

Though there are many ways to measure color quality, the color rendering index (CRI) is the most commonly reported and captures R1-R8 metrics. However, this does not accurately represent the saturation of warmer hues, which is part of the R9 metric. This feature includes the R9 metric as an extension of CRI to ensure that lights with high color quality are in place.

Part 1: Lamp Shielding

Lamps with the following luminance are shielded by the angles listed below or greater:

a. Less than 20,000 cd/m² [5,800 foot-lamberts], including reflected sources: no shielding required.
b.79 20,000 to 50,000 cd/m² [5,800 to 14,500 foot-lamberts]: 15°.
c.79 50,000 to 500,000 cd/m² [14,500 to 145,000 foot-lamberts]: 20°.
d.79 500,000 cd/m² [145,000 foot-lamberts] and above: 30°.
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Applicability Matrix

Core & Shell Tenant Improvement New Construction
Part 1: Lamp Shielding - P P
Commercial Kitchen Schools Multifamily Residential Restaurant Retail
Part 1: Lamp Shielding P P P P O

Verification Methods Matrix

Letters of Assurance Annotated Documents On-Site Checks
PART 1 (Design)
Lamp Shielding 		Architect

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U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service. March 2014, Washington, D.C., pp. 135-136.
58.1.a

The U.S. GSA's Facilities Standard for the Public Buildings Service Tier 1 High Performance rating requires CRI of 80 or higher.
58.1.b

The GSA's Facilities Standard for the Public Buildings Service Tier 2 High Performance requires a Color Rendering Index R9 of at least 50.
Features>Light>58. Color quality