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Interior Design vocabulary · Lighting

Ambient lighting

Meaning in interior design, with examples

/ˈæmbiənt ˌlaɪtɪŋ/nounCore term

In interior design, ambient lighting means: The general, even light that fills a room and lets people move around safely, usually from ceiling lights, downlights or daylight.

In Turkish: genel aydınlatma, ortam aydınlatması

How it is used

The first of the three classic lighting layers, together with task and accent lighting. Designers talk about soft, even or warm ambient lighting and often put it on a dimmer.

Example sentences

  1. The ambient lighting comes from a ring of downlights, and the pendants over the table are on a separate circuit.

  2. Without enough ambient lighting the room feels gloomy in winter.

Common collocations

  • soft ambient lighting
  • even ambient lighting
  • ambient light level
  • task lightingBrighter, focused light for a specific activity such as cooking, reading, working at a desk or putting on make-up.
  • accent lightingDirected light used to highlight a particular object or feature, such as artwork, shelves, a textured wall or a plant, so that it stands out.
  • layeringCombining several levels of something, such as light sources, rugs, fabrics and textures, so that a room feels rich, deep and comfortable rather than flat.
  • dimmerA switch or control that changes how bright a light is, so the same room can feel bright for work and soft in the evening.

More terms: Lighting

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