Large modern cities never sleep, life does not freeze around the clock in them. This requires municipalities to create a new scenario of a “night city” – comfortable and safe, and light plays an important role in it. Sofia KUDRYAKOVA, QPRO lighting designer, told Stroygazeta how lighting is changing the face of a metropolis and what technologies are used today in this area.

SG: Why is urban lighting so important today?

Sofya Kudryakova: Light can shape the image of a city, its persona. Let us remember Shanghai, New York or Tokyo. When we talk about these cities, we imagine the lights of the night city. And what about the Eiffel Tower? Her nocturnal image is one of the symbols of Paris. The role that light plays in the life of the city is evidenced by the history that happened to Rome. “The Eternal City” is traditionally associated with warm light. Sodium lamps with a warm gold glow usually were used for city lighting. But last year, Rome began to modernize its city lighting system. Luminaires with sodium lamps started to be replaced with modern led lamps with cold color temperature. These changes caused a storm of indignation among the citydwellers. Many Romans compare the old world with a pleasant candlelit dinner, and the new one to a frozen dinner. The light really creates a special atmosphere.

“SG”: Lighting is a whole branch of the urban economy. And as in any business, it certainly has its own fashion trends. What are they?

SK: Lighting is directly related to the topic of energy consumption. Therefore, today a lot of technologies are proposed related to improving energy efficiency. Now you can build a road lighting with control mode. Thus, on secondary city passages, traffic at night is significantly reduced. The brightness of the lighting also decreases in such areas, simultaneously with the decline in car traffic. Motion sensors installed in the lighting poles record the entry of a car into some area, and the brightness of the lighting begins to increase, transmitting information from one lamp to another. Thus, while you are driving a light comes on in front of you. This is very convenient and allows the city to save electricity.

In Russia we are still only moving towards these solutions, but in Europe they are already widely used. For example, in Wavre, Belgium, lighting upgrades using energy-efficient technology have saved up to 82% of electricity! Another aspect is security. There are special technologies for lighting pedestrian crossings – luminaries with special optics, lighting equipment built into the roadway. All this helps to reduce the number of accidents at pedestrian crossings in the dark. Light control systems are used to illuminate not only roads, but also buildings. You can create different modes of use of the light installation: every day and festive.

Moreover, the development of modern technologies makes it possible to install interactive light installations in cities, with which citizens can interact. For example, write a message with light using a special application installed on your phone. In London, Hoare Lea Lighting Design made a lighting installation where passers-by use a cloud service to transmit information about their mood and well-being. Color of installation changes depending on the received data. The theme of urban lighting is also related to ecology. For example, there is an international program Dark Sky Places, which aims to protect the night sky. This program includes several outdoor lighting requirements aimed to reduce so-called light pollution.

The trend for environmental friendliness is expressed not only in the use of energy-efficient lighting devices, but also in caring those inhabitants of the environment, whose life can be harmed by an excessive amount of light at night. For example, avoid illuminating the space under the bridges, in zones where bats live, because this is bad for the animals.

SG: If we talk about Russian cities, what are their needs in the field of lighting today?

SK: If we talk about Moscow, then this is energy efficiency and quality of light. There is a great demand for decorative lighting. Here, in addition to functional road lighting, they pay a lot of attention to mood-creating light. RGB lighting and festive decorative lighting are actively used. Also, in the central part of the city, architectural lighting is relevant. Investors are ready to invest in the evening look of the buildings.

There are a lot of recognizable objects in Moscow, for example, GUM with its warm lights which creates a festive mood and makes Red Square cozy. It is impossible not to mention the Crimean embankment, which, with the help of a modern lighting system, was turned into an evening walking route beloved by the citydwellers.

Of course, in the regions everything is more modest. But there is also a demand for high-quality urban lighting. We have developed a lighting concept for the Cheboksary city. In the process of work, we closely communicated with the city authorities. In addition to the request for compliance with all norms and the creation of a comfortable light environment, it was very important for the city as a customer to create an integral evening light image of the city and light sights. It’s connected to the fact that the city is located on the banks of the Volga-river and is one of the centers of ship tourism. But tourists rarely stay in the city overnight. In our project we used lighting to solve this problem by creating several “light” walking trails.