The relationship between natural lighting in school settings was first evaluated more than 40 years ago. The 1999 study that examined the importance of natural lighting in learning environments was led by architect, educator, and author Lisa Heschong. The study observed daylighting in three separate elementary school districts and concluded that daylighting in classrooms correlated with positive performance results. 

 

For example, the data from the Capistrano district case study showed that students in classrooms with the most amount of daylighting “progressed 20% faster on math tests and 26% on reading tests in one year than those with the least” and students in classrooms with large windows “progress 15% faster in math and 23% faster in reading.”

 

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Heschong’s watershed study on daylight also offered possible explanations for the change in learning environments when increased light was added, drawing on the overlap of daylighting and vitamin D intake, the lack of consistent light exposure students typically receive, and the abnormal behavioral patterns that come from using warm fluorescent lights. 

 

Universities typically use fluorescent lighting to be cost and energy-efficient. Lighting costs make up about 31 percent of energy costs in colleges and universities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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Fluorescent lighting has tremendous downsides for students. It can cause eye strains, blurry visions, and headaches which are not optimal learning environments when it comes to concentration and productivity.

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The solution? A transition from fluorescent lighting to natural lighting, according to campus architect Kasey Tilove.

 

“We try to make sure that classrooms have windows, too,” Tilove said. “That’s a priority.”

 

Tilove is an architect at the Robert A.M. Stern Architect Firm, LLP, a 300-person design firm that has designed offices, dorms, and college academic buildings. She has been a part of design projects for schools like Colgate University, the University of Delaware, and Marist College. 

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The process of designing buildings for higher education institutions, Tilove says, is a team effort that often includes the collaboration of architects, staff, and faculty. Every college has unique design needs and elements that they want to be met and the design of a lecture hall or classroom and its purpose for students is no exception.

 

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