Light Reading Results & Analysis

May 11, 2000 @ 12:30
On a cloudy day, it is possible to walk from the entry to the Chinese Gallery without experiencing illuminance levels much above 25 fc. The main trouble spot is the stair landing with the three large windows. This area is bright, but probably not dangerously so. Illuminance levels gradually decrease up the stairs to the gallery entrance. The gallery is pretty dark (about 3 fc), but it doesn’t take too long for the eyes to adjust.

June 3, 2000 @ 12:30
On a sunny day, illuminance is high directly outside the building and decreases rapidly upon entry. Light from the courtyard is a little more significant here and brightens up the area between the stairs on the first floor. The stair landing is very bright, comparatively speaking, and the upper floor landing is quite bright as well. Visitors have to walk directly into the chinese Gallery, which is dark. It takes a few seconds before you can really see details well, but no safety threat is posed.

On sunny days, the museum personnel close the blinds in the three windows overlooking the courtyard in order to decrease illuminance in the upper floor landing area. This is fairly effective. In the area directly outside the gallery illuminance drops into the 10-20 fc range, but the stair landing is still very bright. Additionally, the view to the courtyard is lost and visitors can’t experience that aspect of the building.



	June 3, 2000 @ 12:30 On a sunny day, illuminance is high directly outside the building and decreases rapidly upon entry. Light from the courtyard is a little more significant here and brightens up the area between the stairs on the first floor. The stair landing is very bright, comparatively speaking, and the upper floor landing is quite bright as well. Visitors have to walk directly into the chinese Gallery, which is dark. It takes a few seconds before you can really see details well, but no safety threat is posed.



	On sunny days, the museum personnel close the blinds in the three windows overlooking the courtyard in order to decrease illuminance in the upper floor landing area. This is fairly effective. In the area directly outside the gallery illuminance drops into the 10-20 fc range, but the stair landing is still very bright. Additionally, the view to the courtyard is lost and visitors can’t experience that aspect of the building.