Art uses various tools and methods to make an object special, give it an expressive image, show originality, and evoke emotions. We are talking about artistic techniques that are used in various fields of activity, including the facade lighting design for architecture. As artists work with brushes and paints, lighting designers use lighting fixtures, control systems and modern technological solutions.

Facade lighting has become an indispensable attribute for buildings in big cities. Illuminated facades of significant objects and historical buildings, high-profile business centers, shopping centers, as well as residential complexes attract the attention of people and broadcast various information to them.

Modern technologies (lighting fixtures and lighting control systems) help lighting designers and lighting artists to create a memorable night look of objects. It looks like “dressing” them in spectacular evening outfits. Specialists use different artistic tools and techniques, which they apply depending on the task, the architectural features of the object and context.

Let’s talk in detail about each of them.

ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS FOR FACADE LIGHTING

1 – COLOR TEMPERATURE AND LIGHT INTENSITY
Architectural lighting appeared in New York in the 1920s along with the first skyscrapers. These grandiose structures were the subject of admiration day and night. So, Manhattan became known as the “city of light and color”, as well as a place where “castles in the air are touched by the brush of light impressionists.” Buildings were illuminated with traditional sources with warm white light, but with the development of modern technology, the palette of shades of white light has become much wider – from warm amber to cold bluish white.
The combination of white light shades in architectural and artistic lighting provides wide opportunities for creating an artistic image of buildings, conveying volume and depth, and displaying the plasticity of the facade. Color temperature, light intensity and different optics of lighting fixtures are convenient tools that allow lighting designers to work with volumes, plans, materials, and architectural elements.

2 – COLOR LIGHTING
With the arrival of RGB technology (Red, Green, Blue channels) they started to use color lighting both in interiors and facade lighting. But there are preferences in its application there. For example, in European countries, strong colors and a diverse color palette on facades are used quite carefully, but in Asian countries, color diversity in lighting is loved and actively used.

Colored lighting was not immediately used for classical and historical buildings. Its use must be justified and thought out because color can negatively affect its perception. But now you can already see the old buildings “dressed” in unusual color lighting. They take on a new look most often when there are some special event or holiday happen. Light scenarios help to create different images for the architecture, which can be easily changed if necessary.
The RGBW technology, which combines shades of white and colored light (channels R, G, B), made it possible to combine two scenarios in one device – ordinary and festive. Colored lighting of facades diversified architectural images. With the help of the color of light it can deliver even a certain semantic load. For example, in 2000, Evelyn Lauder came up with the idea of highlighting the facades of buildings, monuments and landmarks around the world with pink light, calling for attention to the problem of breast cancer. In 2010, the action got into the Guinness Book of Records for highlighting the largest number of attractions in 24 hours: among them were the Angel of Independence in Mexico City, Rockefeller Center in New York, and the Moscow Central Department Store.

3 – DYNAMIC LIGHTING
When it comes to dynamic lighting, immediately arises the association with media facades. Most often, these are large-scale lighting technical solutions that can be seen at shopping malls, multifunctional centers and even exhibition centers.

Dynamics in lighting solutions is provided by control systems and is carried out using different protocols, such as 0-10 V, DALI, DMX and PWM. Control systems allow you to implement a wide range of lighting effects: color change, intensity, flicker, overflow and other effects.
Dynamic light is not only colored light. Changing shades of white or just one color can also create a dynamic effect. The visual image of the building can change – become brighter, turn on in tiers, flicker, etc. – in accordance with certain time intervals, depending on the time of year, days of the week or depending on the presence of traffic around.
Control systems help to create unique dynamic visual images, and also serve as a tool to reduce the energy consumption of a facility.

4 – INTEGRATION INTO ARCHITECTURE
In most cases, the architecture is designed as an independent object, the night image of which is already created based on the developed volume. It sounds like, architecture – the first, and then the lighting. But there are such architectural solutions in which light plays a key role and its image is created considering a special lighting effect that will reveal the true intention with the twilight. These are complex projects that are rare to meet.
Most often, solutions with integrated lighting are implemented in buildings with glass facades. Specialists develop various technical solutions for them such as multilayer glazing, various films, digital printing, or special translucent materials. During the day, the building can look like an ordinary glass cube, and at night it can turn into a uniformly luminous object, appearing as the light dominant of the area.

Facade solutions can also be designed considering the fact that in the dark, its volume and shape will form layers of matter and light. Light fixtures in such cases are located in the space behind the facade panels. When it becomes dark, the multi-level volume of the facade will look even more interesting and contrasting, when the light seems to stream from under the outer shell of the building.

5 – PROJECTIONS, LIGHTING EFFECTS, INSTALLATIONS
Nowadays projections are a popular and impressive form of art: static images, moving pictures, abstract visual images or video sequences are projected onto the facades of buildings, as if onto a screen. To ensure that the light from the projector does not fall on neighboring buildings or other objects, the image must clearly correspond to the surface on which it is projected. To do this, visual material is prepared considering each element of the structure – ledges, windows, recesses, balconies, etc.

Now art appears in different forms. Light installations, which you can find both in interiors (exposition zones) and in urban spaces, are popular. These installations appear not only as free-standing objects in public places, but also on buildings. Architectural objects with light objects become large-scale and impressive works of art, exhibited in the urban environment. Lighting art objects on the facades carry the intention of the authors, prompting viewers to think and discuss them. Non-standard approaches always evoke emotions, both positive or negative. And perhaps the main goal of such installations is the reaction of the audience.

Lighting design is the most important tool for creating aesthetically attractive, functional and energy efficient objects. The ability to use various artistic techniques to illuminate the facades of buildings takes lighting design to a new level: architecture speaks with the viewer through the light, with the help of modern technologies.