MA building/electric codes for lighting

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PetrosA

Senior Member
My sister lives in the Boston area and is getting into design/color consulting. She takes it VERY seriously, and among other things she pays a lot of attention to the lighting in the buildings she designs for (she has two brothers who are electricians :) ).

She's currently working up a price for a commercial job that involves a 19th century (?) multistory unit with offices where the building owner wants to redo the hallways and staircases. Presently the lighting there is a mishmash of wall sconces and recessed lights and possibly a few 2x4 or 1x4 fluorescents. The lighting will be upgraded, but no plan has been made yet. What she's looking for is where to find information regarding the types of lighting, lighting levels, etc. that MA code will require so she can have some idea of what to plan her colors around and possibly to make recommendations for the new lighting. In addition to code sources, if there is anyone in the Boston area who might be interested in consulting with her directly, please PM me.

Thanks!
 

hbendillo

Senior Member
Location
South carolina
It would be best to find someone local to check out, and navigate code issues for you. Are they asking your sister to design the lighting? Someone, either an engineer or lighting designer, should a provide lighting design. Among the issues for stairwells include proper lighting levels and emergency lighting.
 

PetrosA

Senior Member
I'll try and answer your questions.

She's not designing the lighting. She's trying to get an idea of what kind of lighting types will be allowed (incandescent, LED, etc.) because that will have a huge effect on the rendering of whatever colors she specs for those spaces. She called me asking what kinds of lights might be allowed but I can't answer that for a different state (I'm in PA) since the energy/building codes can be totally different. She needs to be able to test color patches in the light they'll be in if it's anything other than incandescent since the color spectrum of any other type of lighting can be all over the place, so I think this is a time constraint situation for her. How to spec colors when the lighting hasn't been specced.

I told her I'd ask here about what codes in MA will affect the lighting on this project, so that's all I'm really looking for. That should at least allow her to do some research on her own.
 
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