The school lighting innovation dilemma

This paper presents a qualitative descriptive case study that aims to build awareness about the need for improvement of the indoor environment in classrooms and to exemplify how renewal-oriented processes can be initiated. The study focuses on innovation processes that have resulted in both completely new designs and further spread of innovative solutions. The reason for the need to improve is that too many pupils and students have problems with concentration, relaxation and recuperation. The number of diagnoses such as Autism and ADHD is growing. One factor which significantly influences the pupil's mental well-being is the daily physical environment. The single aspect which may be improved in reasonable time, at a reasonable cost, is the lighting design of classrooms. An underlying reason for the habit to continue installing insipid uniform static "light-carpets" is the lack of awareness about how lighting affects wellbeing and health. As with innovation in other industries, it is an innovation dilemma that the vast majority of the people who sell and procure classroom lighting tend to prefer the established solutions that they are used to. The article describes how Malmö's early investment in Human Centric Lighting and the unique indoor environment of the Study hall in the Centre for Economic Sciences at Uppsala University are used as role models for lighting design in classrooms. The case study combines the authors' own observations and earlier interviews with users. Malmö's temporal light variation and parts of the Study hall's lighting design are used in more than 30 classrooms, in Malmö, Stockholm Business School and Iggesund. The article concludes with suggestions on how today's lighting design knowledge and technology can be combined to provide more advanced adaptations to the varying lighting needs of pupils, students and teachers.