Guiding with light: dramaturgy of perception in the museum
Create several identities with different lighting scenes. A control system allows you to programme and easily recall them.
Activate the appropriate lighting scene to suit the occasion. General mode provides orientation and guidance.
In event mode, the general lighting is dimmed and light islands are created for encounters. In coherent mode, general and accent lighting combine into a sophisticated staging of the space.
Guide museum visitors with well-lit rooms and awaken their curiosity by making distant rooms bright and clearly visible
Guiding with light: dramaturgy of perception in the museum
Creating hierarchies with light. Creating dramaturgy through brightness contrasts
Using contrast deliberately
Use differences in brightness to create drama. Contrasts direct attention to what matters. Stage objects deliberately through brightness. In our perception, they appear more important than their darker surroundings.
Do not plan by absolute brightness alone. What counts is the ratio between the surroundings and the accent. Work with a contrast of 1:10. This creates a clear differentiation between object and setting.
Reduce the general lighting if you want to create a particularly dramatic atmosphere. Narrow-beam accents produce brilliance, depth, and striking modelling with light and shadow.
Reinforcing contrast deliberately
Make sure the ratio between the surroundings and the accent is clear. With a brightness contrast of around 1:5, the differentiation often fails to stand out sufficiently.
Guide the eye deliberately. If the contrast is too low, the information desk loses presence. Lower the general lighting in the surrounding area so that the accent stands out more strongly. Alternatively, increase the illuminance on the graphics wall. This creates greater visual tension and directs attention specifically to the information.
Increasing contrast decisively
Plan brightness contrasts deliberately. With a ratio of 1:2 between the surroundings and the object, no clear hierarchy emerges.
Avoid monotonous lighting effects. If the accents are too weak, the space appears uniform and lacking in differentiation. Use light and shadow for modelling. Only distinct contrasts make circulation routes, information, and services clearly visible.
Strengthen the accent lighting where it counts. This allows you to highlight the cloakroom against its surroundings, for example, and guide visitors confidently through the space.
Lighting a museum reception: orientation and clear dialogue at the reception desk
Light the reception desk in a way that is both prestigious and functional. It is the first point of contact, a workplace, and a central information point.
Create harmonious brightness on faces during dialogue with visitors. Support work at the desk with horizontal light. This helps staff to answer questions about the exhibition, admission, cloakroom, stairs, lifts, and toilets quickly and easily.
Light the museum reception
Lighting reception desks for function and prestige
Light the reception desk, the central point of contact for visitors. Combine a prestigious lighting effect with functional task lighting.
Pay attention to faces. Use lighting elements that deliver good cylindrical or semi-cylindrical illuminance.
Make sure reception staff appear welcoming and are clearly recognisable, and that they have good light for their tasks. At the same time, light the work surface. Support focused work with sufficient horizontal lighting. Use recessed ceiling luminaires to achieve an unobtrusive ceiling appearance. They recede visually and direct attention to the reception area.
Select light distributions to suit the shape of the desk. Targeted light gives the desk clear emphasis. Use efficient light distributions such as "Oval Flood". Light the reception area with precision, uniformity, and economy.
Designing reception areas with pendant luminaires and light structures
Mark the desk as a clear point of orientation. To do so, use not only a distinctive lighting effect but also visible luminaires above the desk. Visitors will identify their destination more quickly.
Use pendant luminaires above the reception desk, for example. They attract the eye and mark the desk as a zone in its own right within the space.
Deliberately choose low mounting heights, but keep the luminaires above the field of view during a conversation. This creates a more personal atmosphere in the dialogue between visitors and staff. Look for wide light distributions with good glare control. Use them to light the desk evenly and make sure that faces remain clearly recognisable.
General lighting with light structures
Work with light structures if you wish to define the reception more strongly within the space. A share of light directed towards the ceiling produces indirect illumination and brightens the ceiling above the desk. Complement this with downward-directed spotlights using "Oval Flood".
This gives you efficient, unobtrusive, and precise lighting for the reception desk. Pendant luminaires and light structures provide orientation, attract the eye, and create a welcoming reception atmosphere.
Designing wayfinding with light: stairs, lifts, and cloakroom in the museum
Guide people safely through large public buildings. Give visual emphasis to circulation routes, stairwells, and lifts.
Use linear lighting to clearly mark out routes. Highlight cloakrooms or toilets, for example, as destinations with vertical lighting visible from a distance. This makes a valuable contribution to orientation and safety within the building and enables intuitive wayfinding.
How do I do this? Using light to guide clearly, direct safely, and inform intuitively
Layering spatial depth with light
Make the boundary surfaces of the space visible. Illuminated walls provide a clear overview and support orientation in large buildings. Use wallwashing in the rear area of the space. Wallwashers, available with a range of mounting options, create a bright, calm background.
Arouse interest with a clear impression of the space. Vertical lighting reveals the dimensions of the space and makes wayfinding easy to understand. Use grazing light to define walls, lift shafts, or architectural elements with precision.
Layer the space in depth. Light makes the foreground, middle ground, and background legible and guides people safely through the building.
Marking specific points with light
Highlight stairs, escalators, and lifts with accent lighting. This makes it easier for visitors and users to find their way around the building. Use recessed spotlights at the foot of stairs or in front of lifts.
There, accents of light mark key destinations and transitions. Use directional, brilliant light for signage systems. Information signs, direction indicators, and striking objects then become easier to recognise.
Use light to guide people safely through buildings, make access points visible, and thereby create intuitive wayfinding within the building.
Recognising the surroundings with light
General lighting provides a basic level of brightness in the space that allows people to orient themselves safely. Plan broad, horizontal lighting to create good orientation.
Illuminate the various areas of the building according to their function. Zones then become easier to recognise. Use light as an aid to orientation. Varying levels of brightness and lighting effects make routes, seating areas, and destinations intuitive
You have completed the second lesson – excellent!
The most important points
- 1Create multiple identities with different lighting scenes, so that you can activate the general mode for orientation, the event mode with islands of light, or the coherent mode for a high-quality staging of the space, depending on the occasion.
- 2Combine a prestigious lighting effect with functional task lighting by providing sufficient horizontal illuminance on the work surface with efficient light distributions such as "Oval Flood".
- 3Highlight stairs, escalators, and lifts with accent lighting to make circulation points and transitions visible as key orientation points.
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