Creating Exterior Lightscapes: A Cooperative Effort

By Erik Skindrud, regional editor

A carrotwood tree with up, spot, and moonlighting in Laguna Beach, Calif. Note the Quasar fixture at upper left directed downwards. Also note the Starburst fixture on the center limb that is directed upwards. Designer Steve Wareham improvised a custom bracket to safely attach this fixture for canopy lighting. Photo courtesy of Steve Wareham

Landscape Architects work with lighting designers in the crowning step for residential and commercial exteriors. Trust plays a role. Keeping the collaboration informal can smooth the process.

Jeff Tolly has learned the drill in his years as a lighting designer and contractor. Charged with final placement and installation of residential lighting systems, he rarely meets with landscape architects. Collaboration usually consists of careful reading of the Landscape Architect?EUR??,,????'???s plans and diagrams. Sometimes Tolly is amused?EUR??,,????'??+or even annoyed?EUR??,,????'??+at the degree of detail architects add without visiting a site at night. As Tolly designer Steve Wareham puts it, ?EUR??,,????'??You can?EUR??,,????'???t do this on a drafting board.?EUR??,,????'??

They?EUR??,,????'???re hamming for the camera here but the photo illustrates an important point: communication between lighting designer and client is a key to project success. At left are homeowners Tom and Janet Marshall of Newport Beach, Calif.; at right is lighting designer Jeff Tolly. Photo by Erik Skindrud

Design Collaboration

A recent collaboration conformed much better with the ideal arrangement between Landscape Architect and designer-contractor. For a residential job in Newport Beach, Calif., Tolly teamed with Landscape Architect Patrick Murphy, ASLA. The collaboration was brief but successful.

?EUR??,,????'??Patrick got it closer than almost any Landscape Architect I?EUR??,,????'???ve worked with,?EUR??,,????'?? Tolly said recently. ?EUR??,,????'??Usually there?EUR??,,????'???s way too much rigidity put down on the plan for placement, fixture type and quantity.

I think he understands that this type of job needs to be done at night by someone with lighting design experience.?EUR??,,????'??

The fruits of the lighting demo emerge after sundown. Uplights illuminate architectural details like columns and the dormer windows. Shrubs and trees add interest and layers of detail?EUR??,,????'??+the tree at right background is a leafless liquidambar. Photo by Erik Skindrud

Murphy, of Summers/Murphy & Partners Inc. of Dana Point, Calif. agreed. ?EUR??,,????'??As Landscape Architects we think of ourselves as the orchestra leader,?EUR??,,????'?? Murphy said. ?EUR??,,????'??We?EUR??,,????'???re charged with putting the components together. Lighting is like irrigation or civil engineering. There?EUR??,,????'???s so much technical detail that we understand the advantage of working with specialists.?EUR??,,????'??

Lighting designer Jeff Tolly adjusts the location and direction of fixtures uplighting the front of this Newport Beach, Calif. home. Note wires sitting on the flagstones; electrical conduit will be buried and hidden during final installation the day after the evening demo. Photo by Erik Skindrud

A look at the project plan shows that Murphy limited his involvement with the lighting design process. The Landscape Architect put a total of 13 lighting fixtures on the document?EUR??,,????'??+of those 13, three were in the approximate location where Tolly placed them. The rest of Murphy?EUR??,,????'???s input came in the form of five short notes with general instructions for the designer-contractor. The ?EUR??,,????'??Notes?EUR??,,????'?? read as follows.

?EUR??,,????'??A) Contractor to provide low voltage ?EUR??,,????'??multitap?EUR??,,????'??? transformer(s), wires & connectors.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??B) Contractor shall provide owner with fixture samples for approval prior to installation.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??C) Contractor to review light placement with owner prior
to installation.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??D) Contractor to install light fixtures with 36-inch minimum ?EUR??,,????'??pig tail?EUR??,,????'??? to allow for minor light relocation/adjustments.

?EUR??,,????'??E) Contractor to design lighting loop circuits as necessary to ensure consistency of bulb output form fixture-to-fixture regardless of location.

A variety of color, textures and light levels work to create a varied yet overall effect. Unlike interior lighting, or a parking lot, viewers should not experience direct light.

A view of the home?EUR??,,????'???s rear shows how lighting architectural and landscape details produces complementary results. The lights illuminating the window trim were specified by the project architect and are not part of the exterior lighting contractor?EUR??,,????'???s work. Photo by Erik Skindrud

Lighting Techniques

The important thing to understand is that lighting a landscape is not like lighting a parking lot or tennis court.

For the latter, brightness and evenness is the paramount concern. Lighting a landscape that way would wash it out, leaving little interest or depth. For the landscape, a variety of color, textures and light levels work to create a varied yet overall effect. Unlike interior lighting, or a parking lot, viewers should not experience direct light. Nor should visitors notice individual fixtures, which are almost always placed to avoid daytime notice. Instead, lights are arranged and directed to show off landscape and architectural features. Viewers experience light indirectly, as it is reflected back towards them. Nor is the light even and continuous; dark zones add a sense of mystery and guide the eye towards items of interest.

This view looks across the home?EUR??,,????'???s swimming pool to a line of uplit trees on the other side. While not visible in this shot, the configuration creates dramatic reflections on the pool?EUR??,,????'???s surface. Note how the tree at center is lit from both sides?EUR??,,????'??+leaving a gap in the middle, an effect sometimes called ?EUR??,,????'??striping.?EUR??,,????'?? Photo courtesy of Steve Wareham

Of course, landscape lighting has important practical aims. The goal of path and stairway lighting, of course, is safety. Lighting designers have more sophisticated techniques that can help move pedestrians through a landscape. Varying brightness levels, for example, can focus attention on pathway areas where visitors are expected to move. Brightness can be increased in outdoor gathering areas to facilitate social interaction.

Practical goals can be achieved in an artful manner, of course. ?EUR??,,????'??Moonlighting?EUR??,,????'?? is a term that refers to placing fixtures in the upper branches of trees or in other positions that filter the light through foliage, creating patterns on the surfaces below. It?EUR??,,????'???s a great way to create mood while effectively illuminating an area.

Tree trunks are excellent canvasses for lighting design. The smooth bark of the coral tree at right and the textured surface of the sycamore at left are the focal points in this view. A light directed downwards from the coral trees upper branches illuminates this brick stairway. Photo courtesy of Steve Wareham

Other aspects of landscape lighting are more straightforward. Standard uplighting is the practice of illuminating trees, shrubs or architectural features from below. Downlighting, of course, is spotlighting or illuminating features from above. A number of specialized lights can be placed directly in walls, between steps or directly into hardscape features. This kind of landscape lighting takes more planning and closer collaboration with structural and hardscape contractors. Many Landscape Architects have developed close working relationships with contractors they trust.

Electrical conduit snakes across a hardscape during a landscape lighting demo event. Permanent wires will be pulled through sleeves already in the ground. The Landscape Architect for this project gave the lighting design team control over individual fixture placement. Photo by Erik Skindrud

The possibilities are varied. Trees make excellent canvasses for lighting design. Certain species, including oaks, carob, coral tree (Erythrina), birch and others are especially charismatic under light. Landscape Architects and lighting designers working on high-value projects often work closely with arborists to shape trees for the spotlight. Likewise, pruning or storm damage can prompt the removal or repositioning of lighting fixtures.

Lights are arranged to guide visitors from the front to the rear in this view, taken at a home in Laguna Beach, Calif. The fixtures along the path are fitted with lower-intensity lamps. Higher-intensity light at the destination, rear, invites visitors to the back yard. Photo courtesy of Steve Wareham

Lighting designer Tolly offers a reminder for Landscape Architects thinking about lighting. Too often, he says, landscape professionals forget that homes and other structures are themselves part of the landscape and need to be part of the overall design.

?EUR??,,????'??Landscape Architects and design people are often looking at plans and don?EUR??,,????'???t even know what architectural features are on the house. They may not know about the columns, arches or pilasters that are on the structures.?EUR??,,????'??

The uplight at lower right here (illuminating the citrus tree at right) will normally be hidden from viewers by the brick planter wall to its left. Note how the brick pedestal and planter at bottom is not lit. The lighted areas behind it leave it silhouetted and strongly defined. Photo courtesy of Steve Wareham

The Last Step

The most important rule may be that lighting is the last step in a project and that fixtures shouldn?EUR??,,????'???t be placed before the last tree, the last shrub?EUR??,,????'??+ideally the lawn?EUR??,,????'??+are in the ground.

As stated above, it makes sense for the Landscape Architect to provide general guidelines, but low-voltage lighting fixtures are light and portable and can be positioned and pointed last. Taking this point a step further, pruning and plant growth will alter a site over time and should prompt the redirection or repositioning of individual fixtures at a later date.

Multiple fixtures work in concert in this view. A pair of downlights in this carrotwood tree create a moonlight effect (note playful shadows on the barbeque). A fixture just right of the tree?EUR??,,????'???s base uplights its branches. Uplighting without downlighting ?EUR??,,????'??would leave a canopy floating in space,?EUR??,,????'?? designer Jeff Tolly said. Photo courtesy of Steve Wareham

Landscape designers refer to the nighttime design session as a demo, or lighting demonstration. Experienced contractors schedule an evening when homeowners or other clients can attend. Given the variety of moods and effects available, its essential that clients have a say in the design process so they?EUR??,,????'???ll be happy with the result. That, of course, is a recipe for all-around success.

You can?EUR??,,????'???t do this on a drafting board.?EUR??,,????'??+Lighting designer Steve Wareham