Beautifully-lit buildings light up the surroundings too. However, the lighting solutions used, need to be sustainable, save resources and prevent unnecessary light pollution
Façade lighting looks appealing and even encourages tourism. Large companies upgrade their buildings with such lighting, which attracts employees and customers. The environment becomes attractive, and an appealing townscape attracts tourists and investors like a magnet.
One of the most challenging tasks in illumination engineering is a good façade lighting scheme for old heritage monuments. Thus, façade lighting can actually change the way we look at buildings. A smart, resource-saving combination of façade lighting meets functional and artistic requirements, creates new urban spaces and contributes a unique quality to architecture at night.
Contemporary lighting solutions for building façade need to create added value for local authorities, or have architectural or economic merit by making a location more beautiful and safer.
Façade lighting underlines the architecture and emphasises the key features of elevation. Without interplay of light and shadow, the front of a building would look flat if lit only by a single layer of bright light. Professional facade lighting is today a key component of the external appearance of hotels and restaurants too.
Spearheading an era of revolution
The Indian façade lighting industry is in a stage of growth in terms of the materials and technology being used in the industry. Though laden with challenges, which will take some time to be addressed, there is a growing acceptability of quality products.
The self-regulatory bodies coming up will lend an impetus to the industry by establishing best practices, and encouraging scientific research and aid. This is a positive sign for the future.
The different façades that can be lit up
Façade forms are determined by the light that falls on them, its direction and colour. The appearance of a façade alters during the course of the day due to the changing direction of light and the varying components of diffused and direct light.
- Solid façade: Grazing light emphasises the surface textures of materials. Progression of light on untextured walls becomes the dominating feature and can be seen as independent patterns. Large, uniform surfaces can be given structure with patterns of light.
- Vertically divided façade: Narrow beams of light intensify the effect of the vertical division. The combination of uplights and downlights augments the vertical façade division by lighting a building from above and below.
- Horizontally divided façade: Long heavy shadows cast by façade divisions can be reduced by increasing the offset of the luminaire from the façade. The steeper angle of incidence for the light in the upper region of the façade casts longer shadows than in the lower area.
- Façade with projecting or recessed sections: Different illuminances or light colours augment the differentiation of the façade. Differentiated illuminances, light distributions and light colours add rhythm to the appearance of the façade. Increasing the luminaire offset from the façade reduces the formation of heavy shadows. The luminaire arrangement should correspond to the pattern of façade division.
- Perforated façade: Under daylight conditions, the window surfaces appear dark. At night, illuminated interiors provide a strong contrast between the dark façade surface and bright windows. Luminaires shining into the interior impair the view out of the building.
- Banded façade: Under daylight conditions the strip of windows appears dark. Illuminating the indoor areas at night forms a strong contrast between dark façade surfaces and a bright strip of windows. The lighting on the balustrades augments their horizontal structure.
- Transparent façade: The visual perspective from the ground makes the lighting effect of the indoor area appear larger with uplights than with downlights. Luminaires shining into the interior will impair the view out of the building. Lines of light in the ceiling area of the individual floors underline the horizontal building structure. Uplights emphasise the vertical elements of the façade.
Leading façade lighting manufacturers
Several Indian companies are coming forward in the field of façade lighting. As lighting solutions, products and designs help to convey an architectural message. Façade lighting manufacturers work on the best façade projects to provide photo realistic simulations. Some of the Indian companies providing façade lighting solutions are Philips, Marc Eco Lighting Private Limited, Legero, Arihant LED Lights and Champion Prefabs.
- Philips Color Kinetics utilises the latest advancements in LED technology to create more light, while making it more focused and controlled. With the new solutions, the façade lighting of a beautiful monument can be easily automated in real-time by a computer control system to create unique light shows with varied effects like ripple, cross-fade, particle and burst.
- Marc Eco Lighting is the manufacturer and supplier of LED downlights, LED ceiling lights, LED streetlights, LED baylights, façade lights, LED tubelights, LED RGB decorative lights/linear strips, LED signage modules, LED garden lights, etc. Its wide range of products is supplied to the domestic market.
- India based Legero Lighting offers outdoor lighting solutions. Legero’s façade flood lighting is designed to accentuate the prime design features of homes such as dormers, eaves and other unique architectural details.
- Champion Prefabs offers factory-built solutions that make it easy for people to go green. The company builds visually stunning structures and LED façades with dynamic displays using the latest in LED technology.
By Sushma Rani
