written for Atrium Lighting in August 2022

Whilst the primary function of Outdoor Lighting is to safely guide us along pathways and through exterior spaces, designers and architects are becoming increasingly creative with this medium. The desired outcome is to achieve both aesthetic innovation and valuable function in residential and commercial environments.

This is not a new concept – Outdoor Lighting dates back 300 years when public and private gardens were illuminated by candlelight for summer season festivities and parties. Regency follies were built to create highly fashionable outdoor fantasy experiences. Ranelagh Gardens was once described as ‘an enchanted castle or fairy palace,’ and serves to remind us of the effect of lighting on our emotional state. Light can create stimulating, welcoming or relaxing environments, building moods in nocturnal landscapes.

Outdoor lighting relies on mixed and layered lighting. The darkness of night provides a blank canvas upon which you can develop a lighting scheme to fit your project. Clever outdoor lighting can give orientation, direction and guidance, highlight architectural or natural features, create new landscape narratives. Exterior lighting can bring buildings and landscapes to life from historic landmarks such as the Tate Modern, the Eiffel Tower to Harrods and private gardens.

Light creates different scenarios and evokes different sensations. photo @Tommaso Sartori

When choosing the best Outdoor lighting solution, consider the destination of use (e.g. a private pathway, a public square…) and the purpose of the light (to convey safety, create drama, etc.), harmonise with colours, textures and patterns of the surroundings, consider weather conditions and how exposed the product will be to them. Most importantly, consider how it will impact, for example, people living in the neighbourhoods and animal life.

In fact, the spread of artificial light from towns and cities has been increasing steadily in recent years; reflections and glare from light don’t just disturb a truly dark night, they have a significant effect on human and animal life. The topic is raising awareness amongst designers and manufacturers, who are developing new solutions to contain the harmful effects of light pollution, for example by introducing warmer lighting in amber tones to create a soft effect without disturbing the wildlife or over-lighting unnecessarily. Most of Louis Poulsen’s Outdoor product offer can be retrofitted with warmer light to have minimal impact on human and animal wellbeing; an example of this solution is Albertslund Post in Skagen, Denmark.

Let Architectural Bollards guide the way

Architectural bollards are perfect for footpaths; they act as markers to map out the entirety of the space, creating a connection between zones and giving orientation to people that walk through them. Bollards like Mile, Pointbreak, Casting by Flos, Flindt Bollard, Flindt Garden or Bysted by Louis Poulsen are sleek and understated forms that create pleasing pools of luminosity with a colour temperature of up to 4000K.

*Flindt Bollard in Corten | Design Christian Flindt | Louis Poulsen*

Spotlights give focus

Spotlights provide the perfect solution for focused highlights. They include ground sticks, wall sticks, tree brackets, wall mounted or underwater options.

The new Spine collection, designed by Vincent van Duysen for Flos, offers a complete range of spotlights and accessories specifically created to provide the highest performance and flexibility for lighting outdoor landscapes and architectural features. What makes this product exciting is the interchangeable lenses that adapt to any situation. From elliptical lenses creating contrast and shadow, to focus lenses for accent lighting and blend lenses for a smooth and gentle skin of light.

Solutions like Landlord Spot or Landlord Soft by Flos allow the head to be orientated and therefore are ideal for illuminating low level planting. Landlord, designed by Piero Lissoni, is a versatile spotlight available in two sizes, via solid ground spike, picket or the highly original tree-belt. With finishes such as Forest Green and Deep Brown, your spotlight will be well camouflaged when directly attached to a tree branch.

In a water feature, take full advantage of the movement and patterns created by refracted light. The right light coupled with the gentle sound of flowing water is magical. A simple spotlight underneath water flow or clever swimming pool lighting can create an impactful feature. Solutions like Martina Aqua or Aimer Aqua by Flos are suitable for submersion to a depth of up to one metre, available in three sizes with different beam angles.

Flexible Lights enhance the Architecture

Flexible lighting solutions like LineLED Flex by Intra Lighting follow the forms of any architecture and reach white colour temperatures of up to 6500K. Outgraze linear lights by Flos can be hidden in doorways and arches to create a magical effect, accentuating architectural features and providing direction at the same time.

Vila-Park-3-lineled-flex-intra-lighting by Atrium Lighting
*LineLED Flex | Intra-Lighting*

In-Ground lighting has minimal design and maximum impact

In-grounds have minimum design impact in return for maximum light offering. They are super-versatile solutions that can be used all over the landscape from uplighting specimen trees, pavilions, or feature walls. Choose from in-grounds like A-Rise, A-Round or C-Me by Flos, suitable for pedestrian and vehicle use, available in a range of sizes and shapes. Ask us about products which provide different light beams from spot to flood depending on the desired effect.

K12ln_amb_161014_Piadena by Atrium Lighting
*C-Me | Flos*
*Gobi | Flos*
*A-Round | Flos*

Wall Lights for stylish exteriors

There are plenty of wall-mounted options available. Camouflage, designed by Piero Lissoni for Flos, takes its name from perfectly blending with stone and concrete surfaces during daylight hours and revealing a soft glow of pure light during the night. Choose from Crema d’Orcia stone, Basaltina stone, concrete and many others. Pleasingly bi-emission or mono-emission up/downlighter Climber, also by Flos, is available in a variety of finishes and three neat, rectangular shapes.
Characterised by a unique and dramatic sculpted design, Flindt Wall by Louis Poulsen is a circular light fixture that brings discreet illumination to both indoor and outdoor spaces. It emits a gentle glow that spreads outwards and downwards and is ideal for entrances, hallways, stairwells and other areas requiring soft illumination to aid wayfinding. Used outdoors, it makes a distinctive statement on walls as it lights up terraces, yards and driveways beautifully.
Eclipse is designed to resist erosion making it an ideal wall-mounted solution for sea-front properties or hotels.

*Camouflage | Design Piero Lissoni | Flos by Atrium Lighting*

Post-Top Lighting

Moving away from discreet and subtle lighting, a smattering of tall free-standing lamps create meaningful impact in urban spaces. Post Tops like Dooku by Flos or Toldbod by Louis Poulsen fulfil this function with bucket loads of style. Flindt Plaza‘s tall, tubular structures are sculptures in their own right whilst NP Nest evoke an art deco design of great elegance.

Decorative & Designer Lighting

The Decorative range will inject some originality into your scheme. In Vitro by Flos is a modern take on an industrial caged design available as a floor lantern, bollard, suspended or ceiling/wall light which can be used for stylish consistency across a scheme. Flos’ Captain Flint’s conical shades and mid-century angular lines reflect a timeless Italian style.

The highly original IC Lights Outdoor collection, designed by Cypriot Michael Anastassiades is the perfect example of marrying form and function, “The notion of balance is prominent in this fixture,” he says. A glowing 30cm sphere perches atop a slanting baton defying gravity and producing a theatrical outdoor lighting effect. The combination of angular and spherical presents an unusual balancing act and a truly unique product that projects light outwards in a delicate equilibrium. Available as a floor lamp or wall mounted outdoor light in five finishes including bold Burgundy red.

*IC Lights Outdoor | Design Michael Anastassiades | Flos by Atrium Lighting*

The lighting solutions offered in both private and public spaces are almost endless.
For a complete narration of our Outdoor designs and inspirational creations, let us guide you through our Outdoor Lighting Discovery Tour.

Lighting the Outdoor: Inspiring Ideas to Design with Light