Lighting Solutions, Same Space, Different Brief

Lighting Solutions, Same Space, Different Brief

Imagine an architect, a homeowner and an ecologist looking at the same garden after dark. They might all agree that it needs lighting, but they will notice different things.

The homeowner wants to see the steps and enjoy the terrace. The architect wants the garden to feel connected to the house. The ecologist wants to know whether light will reach the boundary hedge used by wildlife.

A successful lighting solution has to answer all three.

Start with what needs to happen

The obvious approach might be to illuminate the whole garden. But consider what actually needs to happen there. People need to find their way down the steps. They may want to sit outside after dinner. Beyond that, the garden might be better left dark. A design could put light on the steps where it is needed, use a gentle layer around the terrace and avoid spilling light onto the hedge. Controls could turn the terrace lighting off when nobody is using it. The details would depend on the site and any ecological advice.

That leads to a useful early question, where should darkness remain?

One room, several ways to use it

The same thinking applies indoors. A kitchen needs good light for preparing food, but most people do not want it to feel like a working kitchen throughout the evening. Lighting the worktops, dining area and circulation separately allows the room to change with its use. The choice of fittings matters, but their position, output and control are what make those different scenes work.

For an existing room, the answer may be a change to the lighting layout or controls rather than replacing every fitting. It is worth looking at what already works before deciding what to change.

When the brief involves planning

On a development, the questions widen. Which routes need lighting? What happens at the site boundary? Could light affect nearby homes or sensitive habitats? How will the proposed scheme be described to the planning team and carried through into the finished project?

These are design questions as well as documentation questions. Addressing them early gives the team a clearer basis for decisions as the project develops.

“Lighting solutions” can sound like a phrase for choosing products. In practice, the solution is the thinking behind the scheme, what to light, what to leave alone, how the light should behave and when it should be on.

At Circalume, we work through those questions with homeowners, architects, landscape architects and development teams. If your project has a lighting challenge, get in touch and tell us what you need the space to do.