Guiding with light: staging perception in the museum
Create several identities with different lighting scenes. A control system lets you program them and call them up with ease.
Activate the appropriate lighting scene for each occasion. General mode provides orientation and guidance.
In event mode, the general lighting is dimmed and light islands are created for people to meet. In coherent mode, general and accent lighting combine to stage the space to sophisticated effect.
Guide museum visitors through well-lit spaces and arouse their curiosity by making distant rooms bright and clearly visible
Guiding with light: staging perception in the museum
Creating hierarchies with light. Staging drama through brightness contrasts
Using contrasts deliberately
Use differences in brightness to create drama. Contrasts draw attention to what matters. Stage objects deliberately through brightness. In our perception they then appear more important than their darker surroundings.
Do not plan by absolute brightness alone. What counts is the ratio between surroundings and accent. Work with a contrast of 1:10. This creates a clear distinction between object and surroundings.
Reduce the general lighting if you want to create a particularly dramatic atmosphere. Narrow-beam accents produce brilliance, depth, and striking modeling with light and shadow.
Deliberately intensifying contrast
Make sure the ratio between surroundings and accent is clear. With a brightness contrast of around 1:5, the distinction often fails to stand out clearly enough.
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 typography wall. This creates more visual tension and directs attention specifically to the information.
Clearly increasing contrast
Plan brightness contrasts deliberately. With a ratio of 1:2 between surroundings and object, no clear hierarchy remains.
Avoid monotonous lighting effects. If the accents are too weak, the space appears uniform and lacking in differentiation. Use light and shadow for modeling. Only distinct contrasts make routes, information, and services clearly visible.
Strengthen the accent lighting deliberately. This allows you to set the cloakroom apart from 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 conversations with visitors. Support work at the desk with horizontal light. This helps staff answer questions about the exhibition, admission, the cloakroom, stairs, elevators, and restrooms quickly and easily.
Lighting the museum reception
Lighting reception desks for function and prestige
Illuminate 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 that reception staff appear welcoming and clearly visible and that they have good light for their tasks. At the same time, illuminate the work surface. Support focused work with sufficient horizontal lighting. Use recessed ceiling luminaires to achieve an uncluttered ceiling. They recede visually and direct attention to the reception area.
Select light distributions to suit the shape of the desk. Targeted light clearly emphasizes the desk. Use efficient light distributions such as "Oval Flood." Illuminate the reception area precisely, uniformly, and economically.
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.
Install pendant luminaires above the reception desk, for example. They attract attention and define the desk as a zone of its own within the space.
Deliberately opt for low mounting heights, but keep the light points above the field of view during conversation. This creates a more personal atmosphere for the dialogue between visitors and staff. Look for wide light distributions with good glare control. Use them to illuminate the desk uniformly and make sure that faces remain clearly recognizable.
General lighting with light structures
Work with light structures if you wish to anchor the reception area more firmly within the space. An upward light component creates indirect illumination and brightens the ceiling above the desk. Complement this with downward-directed spotlights featuring "Oval Flood."
This gives you efficient, uncluttered, and precise lighting for the reception desk. Pendant luminaires and light structures provide orientation, attract attention, and create a welcoming atmosphere at reception.
Designing wayfinding with light: stairs, elevators, and cloakrooms in museums
Guide people safely through large public buildings. Emphasize circulation routes, stairwells, and elevators visually.
Use linear lighting to clearly trace the routes. Mark destinations such as cloakrooms or restrooms with vertical lighting visible from a distance. In this way you make an important contribution to orientation and safety within the building and enable intuitive wayfinding.
How do I do this? Guiding clearly, directing safely, and informing intuitively with light
Layering spatial depth with light
Make the boundary surfaces of the space visible. Illuminated walls create a clear overview and support orientation in large buildings. Use wallwashing in the rear area of the space. Wallwashers, including those with various 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 the route comprehensible. Use grazing light: it precisely accentuates walls, elevator shafts, or architectural elements.
Layer the space in depth. Light makes the foreground, middle ground, and background legible and guides people safely through the building.
Targeted accentuation with light
Highlight stairs, escalators, and elevators 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 elevators.
There, accents of light mark important reference points and transitions. Use directional, brilliant light for guidance systems. Signs, direction indicators, and striking objects then become recognizable more quickly.
Guide people safely through buildings with light, make access points visible, and create intuitive wayfinding within the building.
Perceiving the surroundings with light
General lighting provides a basic level of brightness in the space that allows for safe orientation. Plan broad, horizontal lighting to create good orientation.
Illuminate the various areas of the building according to their function. This makes zones easier to recognize. Use light as an orientation aid. Varying levels of brightness and lighting effects make routes, seating areas, and destinations intuitively understandable.
You have completed the second lesson – excellent!
The most important points
- 1Create several identities with different lighting scenes so that, depending on the occasion, you can activate the general mode for orientation, the event mode with light islands, or the coherent mode for a high-quality display of the space.
- 2Combine a prestigious lighting effect with functional work lighting by using sufficient horizontal illumination on the work surface together with efficient light distributions such as "Oval flood".
- 3Highlight stairs, escalators, and elevators with accent lighting to make circulation points and transitions visually apparent as key orientation points.
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