Commercial Landscape and Car Park Lighting: Creating a Welcoming and Functional Outdoor Environment
Project Type : Commercial Landscape and Building Lighting
Location : Yorkshire
Date : 2020
Garden Design by : Matthew Wilson Garden Design
In January 2020, we were invited by Matthew Wilson Garden Design to collaborate on a commercial landscape renovation project. The client’s focus was on creating a warm, inviting atmosphere for the staff while ensuring functional lighting for both recreational and industrial areas.
Design Goals:
- Human-Centric Illumination: From the outset, the client expressed a desire to avoid the harsh, impersonal feel associated with industrial lighting. Their vision was to create a space that felt more akin to a domestic garden, fostering a sense of comfort and relaxation for their employees. This was particularly important given the site's 24-hour operational schedule.
- Integrated Landscape Lighting: The lighting design needed to seamlessly integrate with the newly planted landscapes and enhance the existing grounds, creating a harmonious balance between natural elements and artificial illumination.
- Safe and Efficient Car Park Lighting: The design required a robust car park lighting scheme that adhered to BSI standards for vehicular and pedestrian navigation, ensuring safety and visibility without compromising on aesthetics.
- Enhanced Communal Spaces: The client wanted to encourage staff to benefit from the outdoor communal areas, even during nighttime hours. This needed lighting that created a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere.
- Architectural Enhancement: Feature lighting was required to accentuate the building's façade and surrounding grounds, highlighting its architectural features and creating a visually engaging nighttime presence.
Design Strategy:
To achieve these goals, we developed a multi-layered lighting scheme that carefully balanced aesthetics and functionality:
- Biophilic Design: We opted for luminaires featuring natural materials like wood and incorporated subtle finishes to soften the overall appearance of the lighting scheme, creating a sense of visual harmony with the landscape.
- Minimising Glare: To mitigate glare, a common issue in outdoor lighting, we prioritised hidden light sources and strategic luminaire placement. This approach ensured visual comfort and minimised light pollution.
- Layered Illumination: For the building façade, we used a combination of ambient and accent lighting to emphasise its architectural geometry. This interplay of light and shadow created a dynamic and visually captivating scene.
- Advanced Lighting Simulation: Working with initial plans and 3D models provided by Matthew Wilson Garden Design, we utilised a lighting photometry software to simulate real-world lighting conditions. This allowed us to fine-tune the design, optimising lumen levels, beam angles, and dimmer settings to achieve the desired aesthetic while ensuring compliance with energy efficiency regulations and BSI standards.
- Creating a Homely Ambiance: To foster a sense of comfort in the staff areas, we chose familiar, domestic-style lighting fixtures with warm color temperatures. This created a relaxing atmosphere and encouraged employees to use these spaces for breaks, even during night shifts.
We added illuminated furniture such as benches and coffee tables, further enhancing the inviting ambience of these spaces - Discreet Industrial Lighting: Balancing functionality and aesthetics in the car parks and industrial areas was key. We achieved this by carefully positioning luminaires to minimise visual impact and using natural materials like wood to soften their appearance. This ensured adequate illumination while preserving the desired aesthetic.
