Rendering lighting plan for Wismar Bahnhof project | Photo: Nuttapol Sakchalathron
by Nuttapol Sakchalathorn
Department of Interior Architecture,
Montfort del Rosario School of Architecture and Design
Type of creative work : Urban Lighting Planning
Lighting boundary
Light, generally used for visualization, allows people to see during nighttime or in the darkness. Lighting design however, can also be for other purposes, such as for the safety of the pedestrian, entertainment in concerts, or interactive arts to engage with people. Nowadays, people around the world face COVID-19 pandemic and therefore must search for ways to create social distancing to limit and prevent the spreading of the virus in order to protect themselves. Before COVID-19 pandemic, lighting design has been used to create visual boundaries to define space, besides architectural elements, which results in open planning in exterior or interior spaces. Therefore, lighting design can be one of the solutions to create social distancing in public spaces. People can visualize and define the boundary of space through lighting design elements used to create common language and guide user’s perception.
The image shows the lighting calculation on the pedestrian and street. | Photo: Nuttapol Sakchalathron
Wismar Bahnhof lighting design project is located in Wismar, Germany. Wismar is close to Baltic sea in the north of Germany, 2 hours from Berlin and Hamburg. The area of the Wismar Bahnhof consists of ticket office building, semi-outdoor platform, car park with bicycle parking, and a public park. In 2015, the city council announced the plan to renovate the Wismar Bahnhof and the areas close to the train station, including the roads within 1 km radius to improve the quality of life and for safety.
The design concept is to create the boundary of the train station area and separating areas for people and vehicles by using different color temperature. For instance, pedestrian and the court in front of the train station uses warm white (3000k) and street lighting uses neutral white (4000k). The design defines zoning into high or low traffic, allowing for easy monitoring of the capability of the area. For pedestrian or street lighting, the area’s boundary is created based on DIN standard, Deutsches Institut für Normung, the German Institute for the lighting Standardization, by using the Dialux, computer program to calculate the distance of the luminaire in pedestrian and street lighting, which helps people know the distance between lighting fixture for safety and visualization. Another factor that can create the boundary by lighting design is light distribution (beam angle). The angle of the light beam creates a shape of luminance which people can see the bright and dark area from the lighting fixtures. The intensity of the luminance can show the boundary around the lighting fixture how far they can illuminate. Lighting application and arrangement of the luminaire is used as an element to create the boundary or area for people who use the pedestrian. For example, walkway and bicycle lane are divided by light distribution of the bollard or street pole luminaire.
The image shows the light distribution to create the boundary on the pedestrian. | Photo: Nuttapol Sakchalathron
The image shows different types of luminaires creating different boundary area. | Photo: Nuttapol Sakchalathron
The image shows different types of luminaires creating different boundary area. | Photo: Nuttapol Sakchalathron
As a result, the lighting design helps create social distancing. People can notice the luminance from the lighting fixtures and walk far from each other at a proper distance. The intensity and distribution of lighting creates the visual boundary allowing people to follow the distance between bright and dark for social distancing in COVID-19 pandemic.