If an artist works with paints and brushes, then for a lighting designer such “tools” are lighting equipment, control systems and modern technologies.
Thanks to various artistic lighting techniques, architecture in the dark becomes even more expressive. The night image of the buildings, like an evening dress, invites the audience to look at them in a new way, to consider the unique features in them that become visible when the architectural lighting is turned on. Lighting designers and lighting artists who work at evening image of the buildings pay attention not only to developing an interesting concept, but also to technologies that can be used to achieve the desired result.

Roman Ammosov, lighting architect at the QPRO engineering company, told Stroygazeta about how to strike a balance between the initial data of architecture, the context, and the creative idea, so that together they appear as a single whole, broadcasting the general idea of the project.

Lighting design as a tool for creating artistic image for urban building

Thanks to modern technologies in lighting, there are different techniques that are used depending on the task at hand, the design features, and architectural solutions, as well as the style and context. At first glance, it seems that there are not so many methods, but with their help you can create artistic images for every taste. I will tell you about each of them in detail.

1 – Color temperature and intensity
Architectural lighting first appeared in America in the 20s of the last centuries, with the construction of skyscrapers in New York. These buildings deserved attention and admiration at any time of the day, so Manhattan became “a new city of light and color, a fabulous land of night … a city of illuminated castles in the air, which are touched by the brush of light impressionists” – so the New York Times wrote in 1925.

Traditionally, facades were illuminated with warm white light, which was due to the technological features of light sources. LED technology now introduces a wide range of whites for use, from warm (amber) to cool (visually closer to blue hues). The combination of two or even three shades of white light (different color temperatures) help to highlight the diverse elements of the facade, to show its volume and its plasticity, and to identify the key elements. For example, niches can be highlighted with a subdued warm yellow light, visually bringing them into the background, columns can be illuminated with a cooler shade and brighter, while the main turrets and a central entrance or decorative element are emphasized with an even cooler shade of white or light of greater intensity. Thus, the eye completes the received information, perceiving these three levels of depth, as well as the significance of the elements of the facade.

With the help of color temperature, intensity, and optical characteristics of lighting devices, it is possible to convey the volume of buildings, emphasizing their architectural features, and to show the artistic image of architectural structures.

2 – Colored lighting
Facade lighting with colored light has gained its popularity with RGB LED technology. Colored light has a strong effect on the perception of objects and must be handled very carefully, which is why at first colored lighting was used for modern buildings and bold architectural solutions. But recent years, classical and historical buildings you can also see in color. Probably, such bold decisions began to appear due to the emergence of a more flexible and versatile RGBW technology, when 3 colors (Red, Green, Blue) and white are combined in one luminary.

Lighting scenarios can be customized for different occasions, for example, on holidays, colored lighting is turned on, and on weekdays, the building is illuminated only in shades of white. Progressive technology has helped to avoid the placement of additional lighting fixtures on the facades, has made it possible to create more complex and delicate color shades, and has also diversified the possibilities for creating solemn and festive images of architecture.

3 – Dynamic lighting
Dynamics in lighting solutions is provided with the lighting control systems. The control takes place according to different protocols, the most popular of them are 0-10V, DALI, DMX, PWM.

Now you can see the play of colors, the change in light intensity, the effects of flickering white shades and other lighting effects on the facades of buildings. Dynamic light scenes can be implemented with the media facades or individual luminaires connected to a control system.

Flexible light control options allow you to create individual programs, as well as work on time / calendar or in conjunction with sensors. For example, on weekend evenings, lighting can work in color overflow mode, turn off the color program after 23:00 and switch to muted shades of dynamic white, switch to energy saving mode at 00:30 and work at 20% power, and turn off completely at 02:00 and turn on the very next day with the onset of twilight when a certain level of illumination around is reached. How the system will work depends on the desire of the customer and the capabilities of the equipment used in the project.

Dynamic facade lighting solves two main tasks at once: creating an expressive visual image and making it energy efficient.

4 – Integration in architecture
Some buildings are designed from the beginning with the idea that light will play a key role in shaping their image. In this case, architects, lighting designers and engineers work to create a joint technical solution. Individual developments of this type can be found in buildings with glass facades. Highlighting transparent glass is not recommended due to its reflective and transmissive properties, so the use special materials for its processing, digital printing, translucent insulating materials, and double-glazed windows, etc. In such projects, the lighting becomes part of the building, and not a separate lamp that can be replaced with another one. Such solutions are rare, but always differs from others, causing admiration and questions about how technically it was possible to achieve such an effect.

Also, an interesting effect can be created when lighting fixtures are placed under the facade shell and their light breaks through “from the inside”, outlining the planes of the facade slabs that are spaced from the main wall. The building seems to acquire an additional internal volume, filled with light coming out.

Sophisticated technical solutions for integrating lighting into architecture, for the interaction of light with forms and materials, show high status and value of such objects.

5 – Projections, lighting effects, installations
As a spectacular event lighting and one of the areas of digital art, projections on the facade, or 3D mapping, are widely used. On the building, as on a screen, specially created static or dynamic visual images appear. A feature of the projections is the exact fit into the dimensions of the building acting as a canvas. While preparing visual material, all facade elements matter (each ledge, depression, rounding). Thanks to a detailed digital model of the building, the visuals lie exactly on the surface, do not get into the windows, and do not bend, no matter where the viewer is.

Art entered our life in new forms, for example, in light installations. And they appear not only as free-standing objects on the street or in exposition spaces, but also on buildings. Light structures placed on the facades become independent objects, pieces of art exhibited in the urban environment. Due to this, they attract the attention of many people, forcing them to think about the explicit or hidden meaning and evoking emotions – no matter if positive or negative. Perhaps the main task of such installations is the presence of a reaction.

Lighting design is the tool that can help to create new aesthetically attractive, functional, and energy-efficient objects. The possibility of using different artistic techniques for architectural and artistic illumination of facades brings lighting to a new level of design, when architecture communicates with the viewer through light using modern technologies.