Luminated Landscapes

(East Aurora, N.Y.)

A custom designed lighting system needs to be engineered. Generally, low voltage lends itself well to residential and line voltage tends to be more commercial. Low voltage systems require voltage drop calculations, with wire and transformer sizing.

Everyone has heard the expression "music to the ears." Music is a vibration audible to the human ear, while light is a vibration sensed by the human eyes. And if your eyes are the windows to the soul, then light sings to that soul. So trumpet a visual melody of landscape illuminations, envelope the viewer with your own special light, and you can make your clients say "Wow!"

There are many things that go into this visual melody, the most important of which is balance. But what is balance and how do you achieve it? While hard to describe, you know when you have it, and it doesn’t necessarily mean symmetry either. Think back to your childhood playground memories, specifically the teeter-totter, when on one side sat the two skinny kids and on the other, a single fat one. Unless you’re working at the Palace of Versailles, you’re not likely to find symmetry on most properties. Achieving lighting balance requires the integration of many elements, including site features and building architecture (site analysis), and how to luminate them (lighting techniques), based on the client's needs.

Defining Client Needs

Most people are not savvy when it comes to landscape lighting. Clients are looking to you for enlightenment as to what to do. Be forewarned that all lighting techniques do not work in all applications. New lighting designers may feel they have a great idea or plan in mind because it worked at the last house, but if it doesn't meet this client's needs, you have nothing. And while a property owner may not know what they want when it comes to lighting, they do have particular likes and dislikes, wants and needs.

By asking questions and listening carefully to the answers, you can discover what clients are looking for. Be sure to look for the visual aspects of their answers. The physical gestures, visual expressions, and vocal tones a prospect uses will enable you to "read" them. The more a prospective client speaks, the better your chances are of getting a "feel" for that person, and feelings are what its all about. Your job is to turn these feelings into light.

Ideally your initial consult with the prospective client should be at the site in question. While this is not always possible, it is greatly preferred. A site analysis affords you the opportunity to address issues that will be important to the client and that they never knew existed.

Establish a list of design criteria based on beauty, safety, and security. Ask:

• Who? Who is using the space? Is it only for an elderly couple that needs greater light levels than a young person? Do they have pets? Often times a dog or cat owner will be more concerned about the pets' ability to navigate the site at night than their own.

Up lighting is a very dramatic lighting technique. But if you go in a yard and all you do is up light, up light, up light, you will have taken a dramatic technique and made it static, repetitive, and boring. Mix up your techniques and you'll create compositions with greater interest. Code requirements vary greatly from region to region, check with your local building department. (See "Following the Code" article in this issue)

• What? What space are you lighting? In a front yard you may want to convey a pride of ownership, while in a back yard you’re looking for ambiance. What are the owner’s favorite plants, groupings or tree? What attracted them to this property or house?

• Where? Where are the views, vistas, and focal points? You will need to know the location of these elements to develop a balanced lighting plan. Consider viewing angles from a patio and table areas or wherever it is that they spend evening hours outside. Also evaluate interior views of the outside space with the kitchen, dining and living rooms being primary. But don’t assume; ask.

• When? When do you need this done? A short time frame ("We have a party next week and we're hoping you can have the lights in by then...") may limit availability of some products or resources, thus influencing your design.

• How? How do the homeowners use their space? Is it a couple that enjoys sitting alone in their back yard with a glass of wine, or does the bowling gang come over every Friday night? Keep in mind you may need to design a plan that is flexible or zoned, that can accommodate that occasional large crowd.

• Why? Why light? Listed last but probably the most important, this is the reason the potential client called you in the first place. Again, avoid pre-conceived notions. I’m reminded of the story about luminating this gorgeous fountain in a clients back yard; it looked absolutely stunning at night. The next day the angered husband confronted the confused designer and insisted the lights on the fountain be removed. Turns out the "thing" was a gift from his mother-in-law and he absolutely hated it.

Choosing Photometric Techniques

Photometric is the intensity and pattern of light that a given lamp (light bulb) omits. Please keep in mind that fixtures can impact or alter photometrics as well. However lamp selection is the primary consideration while fixture selection is secondary. Most manufacturers have photometric tables in their catalogs, and you'll need to familiarize yourself with them.

A better bet is to acquire a demo kit, a small sample of fixtures offered by many manufacturers, and go play with the light in your yard some night. See what a foot-candle looks like, feel the warmth of an incandescent lamp versus the coolness of an MR-16. Begin to understand the power of the light and you'll begin to understand how you can sculpt a space by lighting some areas and not others.

Remember your primary goal is to achieve balance, unless you want to end up as the guy across the street with the poor lighting. Carry yourself with integrity because good intent supercedes all, even the mistakes.

Once an understanding of light output is obtained, try experimenting with various techniques. I tell my clients "I am an artist, I paint with light." And basically that’s what lighting techniques are -- brush strokes. The light is your paint, the amount of which is controlled by your lamp selection and its photometrics.

Each technique listed below has the ability to be low or high, narrow or wide, soft or bright. Here are the ten most commonly used:

• UPLIGHTING: As the name implies, this is when an object is illuminated from below. By far the most dramatic of all lighting effects because it’s opposite of the light source we're conditioned to: as humans we are used to the ultimate down light, the sun. So whenever you see something opposite of what your used to, it appears dramatic. When up lighting be sure to add some sort of ground illumination from a down light or path light. This will enable the viewer to see where the element is coming from, and won’t appear to be floating in darkness.

• DOWNLIGHTING: Again as implied this is when an object is luminated from above. Whenever you bring light down, bring texture with it. Casting shadowy leaf patterns parallels what the sun does, and creates interest. To down light from a tree without shadows can look just like another floodlight from the corner of the house.

• PATHLIGHTING: Actually this is a form of down light but refers specifically to those spike ground-mounted fixtures commonly used along walkways and in flowerbeds. Because of the wide variety and aesthetic appeal, this is the only time you will let a property owner select a fixture to be used. Keep in mind the photometrics of the fixture selected, as this will be needed in determining how close the final spacing must be.

• GRAZING: When light is cast across a surface area at a very shallow angle. Consider using this technique if the surface area has texture, as the raised areas will be highlighted and the nooks and crannies will be cast in shadow.

• MOONLIGHTING: While also a form of down lighting, moonlighting is non-direct, soft & diffused. The perfect technique for luminating a patio or sitting area. Great for achieving ambience.

Generally speaking, things naturally balance better in odd numbers. A landscape designer will have a grouping of three shrubs here or five plants, with three specimen trees spread across a yard for continuity. This odd number design principle is common in other design disciplines as well, and is key for landscape lighting.

• SILHOUETTING: An area in the background, a wall or fence, is illuminated so the object in the front, a specimen plant or tree, stands out as a blackened outline.

• UNDERWATER: Underwater lights are available in spotlights, excellent for highlighting a waterfall, and area lights, general water illumination. Use sparingly, as nature never luminates in this manner. Also you may end up highlighting the algae and debris if the pond is not well maintained.

• BACKLIGHTING: Just like in the movies, when luminated from behind you will create a halo effect, with lots of drama.

• MIRRIOR IMAGING: When an object on the opposite side of a body of water is luminated so that its image is reflected across the waters surface. The hardest of all effects to achieve because all the elements must be in place. Be careful using down light here, because it is very easy to generate hot spots from the viewing angle.

• SPECIALTY LIGHTING: Special fixtures that create special effects. Mini lights outlining the edge of a gazebo, highlighting the architecture. A tiki torch placed poolside, creating that perfect atmosphere. A Nightscope&Mac226; shining a company’s logo or holiday scene on the side of a building.

Achieving Balance in the Design

The design element of a plan is the single most important element to achieving balance. So often this is what is lacking in most lighting plans. The problem is any light is better than no light, and therefore clients can be pleased with a poor lighting job (to a starving man a fast food hamburger is gourmet). Well, once people see the difference between a good job (your work) and a poor job (the guy across the street) then they will know the difference, and that is how you make them say "Wow."

When it comes to lighting spaces there are three planes you need to work in. Lets consider a front yard, for example. From the left side of the yard across to the right is one plane. From the front elevation to the street is a second plane. And from ground level to the treetops, or roofline, is the third. Your objective is to balance the lighting in the planes individually, as well as the whole.

Another important element in achieving great balance is to use multiple lighting techniques. At least, oh say, three types. Everybody’s familiar with the inexpensive do-it-yourself lighting kits that look like a runway. The problems are generated because one lighting technique, path lighting, is primarily being used. And any time you use the same technique over, and over, and over, it becomes static, repetitive, and boring.