Local lighting control in open-plan offices: the influence of office lay-out

Highly granular lighting control involves switching on and off luminaires based on individual occupancy. The resulting high frequency of lighting changes can distract the office workers and negatively impact their work performance. In a cubicle office, this might be less of an issue than in an office without partitions, as users do not have an overview over the space here. We tested this control strategy in both office types and compared the results to determine the influence of office lay-out on the amount and acceptability of distractions that it poses. Our results indicated the opposite: occupants in the cubicle office were more often distracted and rated the distractions as less acceptable than in the bullpen office. As the job function types varied and the bullpen was consequently more dynamic, it seems that the type of work environment is of larger influence on users’ satisfaction with local lighting control. However, more research is required to confirm this finding.