The colour of light or the textbook colour temperature is nothing more than a measure of the colour impression of light. In physics, it refers to the temperature of a black body (expressed in Kelvin) needed to emit light of a given colour, but for many people this is not a very practical example.

For easier understanding, it is worth referring to a real, imperfectly black object that almost everyone has had the opportunity to observe, e.g. the filaments of a light bulb. If we apply a small voltage to it, e.g. by using a dimmer, it heats up to a relatively low temperature and we see a very warm, reddish light. However, the more the voltage and hence the temperature of the fiber increases, the more the light will be white. This is why the colour temperature expressed in Kelvin increases with the increase of the subjectively assessed "whiteness" of the light and, as a result, the "coolest", almost bluish light has the highest colour temperature.

The colour temperature of light affects the well-being and colours of illuminated surfaces. Therefore, it is worth making the selection of the colour of light for the apartment dependent on the function of the interior. The interior design itself and the individual preferences of the residents are also important.

Generally, it is assumed that:
• The warm light colour of 2700-3000K is the best choice where we rest: in the bedroom or in the living room.
• The kitchen is a multifunctional place where we prepare meals, spend time together, but also work often, so the most common choice is 3000K.
• 4000K light helps to focus, stimulates action and facilitates the perception of details, therefore it works well in an office or a separate work place in another room. If the workplace is in an open space also lit by a different colour of light, it is worth planning the lighting so that light sources with different colour temperatures are not activated simultaneously or use the lighting with the Tunable-White function, which allows you to adjust the colour of the light. The difference in the colour of the light is clearly visible and the effect may not be satisfactory if light sources with different colour temperatures are activated at the same time.
• In a children's room, it's best to choose 3000K as a starting point. But it is worth considering providing 4000K light for desks and 2700K warm light for reading books in the evening.
The second important aspect of choosing the colour of light for an interior is the interior design. Warmer colours of light (2700K, 3000K) work better with warm finishing elements such as wood or brick. Modern interiors with a cool style can be emphasized with a cold colour of light. For more information on how to match the colour of light to the interior design, see the question: Is it possible to mix different colour temperatures in one room or in an open space?

Tunable-White technology allows you to smoothly change the colour temperature of light. In the case of AQForm luminaires with the Tunable-White function, the light can be adjusted from a warm colour (2700K) to a very cold colour temperature of 6500K. The colour temperature changes independently from the regulation of the luminous flux (amount of light). The smooth adjustment of the colour temperature of our luminaires can be compared to dimming, but these are two different, independent parameters.

Thanks to the Tunable-White technology, artificial light can follow our natural rhythm of the day.

The sunlight that surrounds us constantly changes its colour temperature. From the gently awakening, warm light at sunrise, which quickly turns into a refreshing, cool colour in the late morning and at noon. Such light puts our body on standby and keeps us active all day long. The warm light of the setting sun calms us down naturally, thanks to less and less blue light. Warm light makes the interior more cozy and our thoughts calmer, it emphasizes the warm colours of wood or fabrics. On the other hand, cool light, which activates our body, makes it easier to see details.

Controlling the colour temperature of light allows you to adjust lighting parameters on an ongoing basis to our changing needs.

How does it look in practice? For example, in the living area of a flat, using the same luminaires, in the morning we can turn on stimulating, cool light that will act on our body invigoratingly like a cup of strong coffee. Then, in the evening, after a whole day of work, in the same room, using the same lighting fixtures only by regulating the colour temperature, we will change the mood to relaxing, which will help to calm down in warm light like the setting sun.

In the example below, you can see the same interior illuminated by luminaires with different colour temperatures.

You can use lighting with different colour temperatures in one room. However, it is worth doing it consciously and carefully.

For example, you can divide the light sources into different groups and circuits so that it is possible to turn on only decorative lighting with a very warm colour and lower intensity, or only task lighting in a neutral white colour, helpful for concentration and work. The key is to plan the light so that there is no need to activate light sources with different colour temperatures at the same time.

The colour temperature of the light can also be adapted to the interior elements. If we have a wall finished with concrete in the room and next to it natural stone or wood, then lighting the concrete with a light source with a cooler colour temperature of 4000K will emphasize the cool shade of gray, and lighting a nearby wall made of natural materials with a temperature of 3000K will emphasize their warm character. Reaching for such a solution requires a precise selection of lighting fixtures and their optics, in particular the lighting angles.

Due to the fact that the bathroom is a multi-functional room, it is worth considering different colours of light for different functions:
• For evening relaxation in the bathtub – 2700K warm accent light with low intensity.
• General lighting, for everyday use of the bathroom – the most common choice is a colour temperature of 3000K and higher intensity. However, some people prefer the more neutral 4000K colour.
• Good light for makeup should have the colour which we prefer to spend our time in.

Therefore, the Tunable-White technology is the perfect solution in the bathroom, as it allows you to adjust the lighting to your needs on an ongoing basis.

That's a question that can only be answered: it depends. :) A black wall reflects some light across its entire spectrum, unless it is perfectly black and absorbs all the light. The effect also depends on the degree of gloss of the surface and its structure. Thus, the appearance and perception of black will depend on the selected light.

As in the case of a white wall, the choice should take into account the effect you want to achieve. If it is a space to relax, let's use 2700K or 3000K warm light. If a place to work – it is better to choose a cooler colour temperature, which has an activating effect on our body, so 4000K. If we want a neutral shade of black – 4000K. If the black is to be warmer – 3000K.

CRI (Colour Rendering Index) – tells about the colour reproduction by the light source. Therefore, they are given for LED luminaires in which the light source is integrated with the luminaire. However, this is not a parameter describing the luminaire, but its light source.

The higher the CRI, the better the colours are. Sunlight is assumed to have a CRI=100. The market standard is CRI>80, but it does not reflect the full colour – you can see it in reds, navy blue and gray. Therefore, in AQForm, 99.9% of integrated LED luminaires use light sources with a CRI>90.

Architectural lighting in most spaces is subject to the EN 12464 standard. The same standard regulates what parameters a lighting designer should check, and of course we follow it in AQForm. For example, the lighting of houses and apartments is not standardized, but it is still worth using the guidelines, e.g. when designing a place to work or study at home.

Lighting should always be placed in the context of the interior, so this question cannot be answered without knowing the specific room, its dimensions, purpose, materials used or the preferences and age of its users.

Lighting is selected taking into account the specific conditions of the interior, standards in a given room and user preferences.

For comfortable reading, it is worth choosing a luminaire with a good CRI, low flicker (i.e. providing light without the flickering effect – which is what characterizes good quality luminaires with a built-in LED module). The remaining parameters of the luminaire depend on its location, the preferences of the reader and his eyesight. It should be remembered that a 10-year-old child most often needs even several times less light for reading than a statistical 60-year-old person.

For reading in bed, a wall lamp with a narrow lighting angle (so that it does not excessively illuminate the space around) and a small luminous flux will be useful. If we want to read for half the night – it’s better to choose a model with a colour temperature of 4000K, which gives a bit more light. But if you treat reading in the bedroom as a good way to fall asleep, then you need to choose a 2700K lighting fixture, preferably with a lower luminous flux.

Luminaires that have a built-in switch (so you do not have to leave the bed just to turn off the lamp) and the ability to move are especially good for bedside lighting. The mobility allows you to direct the beam of light to the pages of the book, for example when changing the position from lying to sitting. An example is the PET micro move switch wall lamp.

• Phase-Control system – is a simple system using TEDIM and LEDIM phase dimmers. The system does not require additional control circuits as it only uses a three-wire system. When buying, we recommend the use of TEDIM dimmers (operating on a falling slope). The characteristics of the dimmer may also be important – we recommend using dimmers with a resistive-capacitive characteristic (RC) or universal dimmers (RLC). It is important that the sum of the power of the sources is within the dimmer's work range at the specific load (so with the LED load, the work range should be taken for the LED load) with a margin.

• switchDIM system – is a system controlled by a traditional monostable switch (e.g. bell switch). It requires a constant power supply of the luminaire, independent of the control circuit. Therefore, a minimum four-wire installation is required. The luminaire is controlled by counting the pulses in a specific time – a short press results in switching on/off, and a long press is responsible for reducing or increasing the flux.

• DALI system - is an advanced system that allows you to control sixty-four luminaires or sixteen groups in broadcast mode. In addition to permanently supplying the luminaire with alternating current, the DALI system also requires a two-wire control line. Therefore, a total of five-wire installation is required. Currently, there are wall-mounted dimmers operating in the DALI system that look similar to dimmers operating in the Phase-Control system. However, you should choose the one that will supply the DALI main line.

• AQsmart system – is a wireless luminaire control system that allows you to connect up to 217 devices to one network, combining them into any groups and scenes. The system can be controlled from many mobile devices, specific actions can be programmed (e.g. scene change with a quick changeover – on-off-on) or it can turn on/off the luminaires at a specific time of the day, also adapted to the latitude and hours of sun operation at a given moment. The system does not require any additional devices and the luminaires connect wirelessly, which allows you to create a network without physical connection of the luminaires. Luminaires in the AQsmart system require only a three-wire electrical installation.

• On/off system – this is the simplest type of lighting control, but properly thought-out is sufficient for many arrangements. Laying out the installation circuits in such a way that the light adjusted to various functions creates independent layers is the most basic and, at the same time, a very effective way to work with indoor lighting. For example, planning a separate switch for wall lamps providing relaxing indirect light, separate for the general light source and separate for luminaires accentuating the details of the arrangement gives us 6 different light scenes without dimming.

The Unified Glare Rating (UGR) is a measure that allows an observer at a given point in the room to be exposed to glare. When checking UGR, it should be remembered that people react differently to identical conditions – our sensitivity to glare depends on the state of our eyesight and the current psychophysical state.

UGR is a measure that allows you to estimate whether the lighting in a given room will be too bright for most users. It takes into account, first of all, the luminance distribution, i.e. the brightest elements of lighting fixtures (the higher the luminance, the worse) and the illumination of the surface in the room (the brighter the walls and ceiling, the better) and, of course, the position of the observer. [b]In short: the smaller contrasts between surfaces are achieved when designing lighting, the less exposed to glare its users will be.
[/b]

Yes, the AQForm website has 3D models of all products with optimized mesh and "on layers" elements that make working with models much easier.

How to download a file? There are two options:
1. Just go to the subpage of the luminaire you are interested in, next to the product you will find the "3D model" in the download files.
2. On the download page, you can download the full package of all 3D models.

All current catalogues in electronic version are available on the website: https://www.aqform.com/en/downloads. If you are interested in delivery of the main catalogue, please contact marketing@aqform.com

In zone 1 and 2, all electrical appliances exposed to direct water jets require a minimum IPX5.

Rooms containing a bathtub or a shower require certain ingress protection in luminaires, which depends on the localisation in all appliances. Ingress Protection Rating (IP) usually contains two digits. The first one tells you how well a luminaire is protected against solids ingress. The second one is most important in the case of bathrooms and tells how waterproof a luminaire is.

Rooms containing a bathtub or a shower require certain ingress protection in luminaires, which depends on the localisation in all appliances. Ingress Protection Rating (IP) usually contains two digits. The first one tells you how well a luminaire is protected against solids ingress. The second one is most important in the case of bathrooms and tells how waterproof a luminaire is.

Based on PN-HD 60364-7-701: 2010

Please note there are national deviations. Examples below:
• Spain, Czech Republic: zone 2 over zone 1extended to 300cm
• Netherlands: 225cm dimension changes to 260cm
• Ireland: there is zone 3 240cm from zone 2 horizontally and 75cm above zones 1 and 2
• France: zone 2 IPX3, there is zone 3 that extends 240cm from zone 2 horizontally