Architectural lighting of buildings is one of the most interesting lighting design trends today. Using it, you can create a unique design of buildings.
What is used for
Illumination of building facades performs the following functions:
- Creating a spectacular silhouette of the building at night. Design development is carried out taking into account the design of other nearby buildings.
- Attracting the attention of potential customers. In this case, a fairly bright lighting design is used.
- Original lighting emphasizes the status of the building.
- Building security - lighting reduces the risk of outsiders entering the building.
Where is used
Very often, architectural lighting is used to design:
- Private country houses, as well as mini-hotels.
- City buildings. These can be administrative institutions, architectural monuments, offices of large companies, shops, etc.
- Bridges.
The lighting method is selected depending on the purpose of the building, its architectural features and location.
Local lighting
This type of illumination is carried out using lamps that are located on the facade of the building or next to it. So you can focus on the most significant architectural elements of the building. This can be, for example, cornices, balconies, bas-reliefs, tablets, window vaults, etc. Among other things, this type of lighting can save energy, but it should not be abused, since a large number of lamps will certainly spoil the appearance of the building.
Flood lighting
In this case, lighting devices (floodlights of different capacities) are located at a rather significant distance from the building. For their disguise, trees, ornamental shrubs, and small architectural forms are used. The facade in this case is fully illuminated. Similar architectural lighting is used for large buildings that are closed at night. The use of directional beams of light makes it possible to distinguish structural elements. Very often, historical monuments, museums, administrative buildings and temples are decorated this way.
Contour lighting
This architectural lighting of buildings involves the allocation of contours. In this case, all the faces of the building or the edges of individual elements can be emphasized: roof, facade, etc. To organize this type of illumination, linear LED lamps, tubes, as well as neon lamps can be used . The design in this case is soft and unobtrusive.
Background fill
Such architectural lighting is mainly used for buildings of cultural or historical value. In this case, the background and side parts of the building stand out. Very often this is the design of buildings with columns. This type of lighting makes the building stricter, more monumental and majestic. Lighting devices themselves are completely excluded from the field of view, and their installation does not spoil the structural elements of the building.
Light facades
Fully glazed facades of buildings these days are not uncommon. It is almost impossible to illuminate such a building from the outside, since glass simply absorbs light. Designers have found a very interesting solution for the design of such buildings. Architectural lighting of the facades in this case is carried out not from the outside, but from the inside of the building. Equipment in this case is mounted on the walls or ceilings of the premises. The luminous flux is directed to the glass at different angles, creating a stunning effect.
Dynamic lighting
In this case, the decorative effect is achieved by periodically changing the intensity, color, mixing shades of light. In this case, LED architectural lighting is most often used. Modern equipment allows you to get amazing in beauty dynamic effects. This may be, for example, broadcast footage or advertising.
What to look for when creating a backlight
When creating lights, experts are guided by a number of very different factors:
- All architectural features of the building are taken into account without fail: the style of the exterior, the geometry of structural elements, etc.
- The location of the building itself is taken into account. How exactly it will look against the background of other houses is important. Among other things, a lighting project is being developed adjacent to the building. This achieves the contrast between the facade of the building and the background.
- The equipment with which architectural lighting will be carried out is carefully selected. To create an effective design, you must correctly select the type of fixtures and correctly calculate their number. Which equipment will be used depends on the purpose of the building. For example, large shopping centers for advertising purposes should be illuminated quite clearly. For office buildings, a restrained, unobtrusive design that emphasizes the status of the building is more suitable. It is very difficult to realize architectural lighting of various kinds of monuments and historical buildings. In this case, the most important thing is to preserve the original compositional idea of architects. When creating a project, all possible characteristics of the equipment should be taken into account: light output level, lamp power, their color temperature, as well as psychological color characteristics.
- When developing the project, they pay attention to exactly what materials were used to decorate the facade and other structural elements of the building. For example, glossy, mirror and metal surfaces significantly reduce the quality of lighting, as they reflect equipment used for decoration. Bright blinding spots appear on the facade and other structural elements of the building, violating the harmony of such an amazing design as the architectural lighting of buildings.
- The location of the equipment is carefully selected, because, like any other design, the fixtures need maintenance and repair. They are mounted in such a way that they can be easily reached if necessary.
- Of course, the project should be drawn up in compliance with all safety standards for passers-by, people working inside the building, as well as personnel serving the equipment.
- When determining the installation location of lamps, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of vandalism.
- The architectural illumination of the facade should be implemented so that the light does not blind the eyes of drivers passing by the building of cars.
Steps for creating a backlight
Registration is carried out in several stages.
- The lighting concept is determined, lighting design is performed taking into account all the architectural features of the structure.
- A lighting project is being developed, the brightness of the lamps, their power, etc., are calculated.
- An electrical project is being developed.
- Purchased and mounted equipment.
Using architectural lighting, you can create an unusually spectacular design of the building. But only if the project was drawn up taking into account all the features of both the building itself and the territory adjacent to it.