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Buildings often have signage which must be read at night. Selecting the correct lighting for this type of application is critical, as this "brands" the building, and the community contained therein. With a building's signage, it is important to understand that such elements become an extension of the building --- and thus, become a prominent part as they are hierarchically significant. From lighting the numbers of a home address to lighting the signage on a business' building, this "branding" of architecture is often what visitors see first. Thus, it is important to get it right.
Sitra Display Outdoor Wall Luminaire
Lighting that Becomes One with Architectural Elements
Critical to an architecture's life at night is its ability to guide its occupants through its spaces. Lighting pathways, entries and exits are key --- but what about the lighting of architectural building elements like walls, glass or columns? Lighting can be used to give architecture an "uplift" as it becomes one with its elements. Just as architecture can be rhythmic or fluid, so too can its lighting. Both work together to help the architecture invite its visitors in --- to experience space in new forms.
Galen LED 100 Outdoor Display Luminaire
The Illumination of Exterior Common Areas
Common areas are also critical to an architecture's nighttime life. In fact, these areas can be kept safer and more functional with the proper illumination. Exterior common areas are an extension of an architecture's design --- and as such, should not become a wasted opportunity. At night such common areas can be found in plazas, parks or even small gathering alcoves --- and when lighting design is thoughtfully carried out here, all kinds of functionalities become possible: from social gatherings to community entertainment.
Architecture of all sizes can make use of well-lit common areas. From the backyard of a home to a retail center's plaza, great lighting can promote safe areas to gather for fun. At times, lighting can even take on its own beauty that complements the architecture --- where lighting becomes sculptural as a center-piece that "magnetically" pulls visitors closer.
FIL DE FER Outdoor Lamp
Bringing Beauty to Site Elements
There are certain architectural elements that must exist on a building site that can get "lost" in the darkness of night. Instead of allowing such elements to simply fade away into the darkness, why not use lighting fixtures that add not only safety, but also beauty as they illuminate such site features? Architectural site elements take on a life at night that add to the welcoming nature of a building. It is important to note that site lighting can provide a beacon-like light quality that steps visitors toward the architecture through an experiential journey of light.
VAP 100 Outdoor Luminaire
Lighting for Architectural Navigation
Ground lights can serve to light pathways that work together with an architecture's circulation. Not only does this show a visitor where to travel, but it can also emit a beautiful sense of architectural movement and flow, as there are multiple ways to light a path. For instance, when using uplighting to illuminate walls along a path --- a wonderful experience radiates as material textures come alive and the architecture seems to "float".
Dasar 115 GU10 Outdoor Ground Luminaire
Lighting as a Bridge between Architecture and its Landscape
At night, the beautiful landscaping that exists on an architectural site can often disappear into the darkness. However, by lighting the landscaping that is integrated into an architecture --- the building will sit nestled on its site. Lighting allows for an architectural site's primary features to be "pulled" from the darkness to work together with the architecture. Landscaping can mean more than simply illuminating trees. For instance, it can also mean illuminating water.
LED Outdoor Beam 10W Outdoor Display Luminaire
How Light Uplifts Architecture at Night
As you can see, lighting for a building is more than simply illuminating a path for visitor travel. It impacts many dimensions to an architecture's function, beauty and meaning. From accentuating an architecture's materiality in terms of color and texture, to inviting visitors to come closer to experience the architecture, or its intended functionality --- lighting links people to buildings at night. Thus, when the sun goes down, this gives an architecture a new opportunity to showcase what it can do from an entirely different perspective. After all, sunlight changes from moment to moment, and an architecture must work to integrate with those changes. But at night, light can be used to redefine what an architecture is doing, both in its exterior and interior.
Architectural lighting for nighttime use is critical --- yes, for functional reasons, but also because with it, so much more can be learned and experienced about a given architecture. Lighting makes what would otherwise not be visible at night, take on new life --- an "aliveness" that has often created architectural icons that make architecture an experience to remember.
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