Exploring Domestic Lighting Practices in Adulthood and Early Ageing

Understanding lighting practices is crucial for ensuring social robustness and sensitivity to context when implementing technical solutions in real-life settings. As lighting can create functional, sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing environments, it is important to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and social and physical situations. Domestic lighting is no exception; however, the sociocultural, perceptual, and sensory qualities of light have been neglected in engineering-oriented practices, while ethnographic approaches to domestic lighting seldom cover the material and technical aspects of the phenomenon. The role of light evolves according to people’s changing needs and abilities, as seen in age-related changes and incipient vision loss, so a broader understanding of domestic lighting practices can help in preparing for senior life. Combining methods from ethnography, architecture, and engineering, this article provides new knowledge on the dynamics of the socio-technical elements of domestic lighting. Interviews, lighting measurements, and field observations conducted in 37 Danish homes revealed that the mundane, everyday practices of the home environment embody patterns as well as diverging conventions and norms. People navigate their domestic lighting in accordance with specific activities and orchestrate micro-atmospheres between light and darkness, resulting in a composite palette of task light, isles of light, and lightscapes.