Public & Outdoor – light for art outdoors
Illuminating sculptures and monuments
Whether sculptures in the garden of a museum, a fountain in a public park, a monument in a city center or a private outdoor exhibit: bring outdoor art to life at night with the right lighting and create a unique visitor experience. Each work of art is individual and requires different lighting strategies and lighting tools for perfect display. ERCO offers robust luminaires for outdoor areas with the lighting technology of high quality museum lighting. Exciting lighting concepts can be created thanks to a maximum diversity of light distributions, excellent color rendering and precise optics: ranging from dramatic accentuation to uniform floodlighting and suitable for all types of art outdoors. We give helpful tips on which ERCO LED luminaires are best suited, and what to pay attention to when illuminating sculptures and monuments or other outdoor works of art.
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Exciting project examples
Lighting art in outdoor spaces perfectly: what you should know
Which luminaire is the right one?
Projectors and floodlights as well as ground-recessed luminaires are suitable for lighting art installed in outdoor spaces. Floodlights and projectors can be flexibly positioned on walls or masts, but also on the ground using a ground stake. The ground stake allows the luminaire to be repositioned quickly and easily. Ground-recessed luminaires on the other hand are fixed but inconspicuously integrated into the ground. They can be walked over by visitors, and vehicles can also roll over them if they are fitted with appropriate mounting enclosures. They can however become covered with leaves or snow according to the season. Growing tree roots should also be considered when designing with ground-recessed luminaires.
Select the correct light distribution for the exhibit
ERCO lighting tools offer up to ten different light distributions with state of the art LED technology – for all sizes of exhibits and methods of lighting. Narrow distributions such as narrow spot (approx. 8°) and spot (approx. 15°) are ideal for accentuating. For smaller exhibits or at large lighting distances, narrow spot distribution (approx. 8°) is optimal. Wide distributions such as flood (approx. 30°), wide flood (approx. 50°) and extra wide flood (approx. 90°) are used for large-area lighting. This allows larger works of art to be displayed even from short distances. Oval beam angles such as oval flood (approx. 20° x 60°) are excellent for lighting elongated sculptures and lettering.
How brightly should works of art be illuminated in outdoor spaces?
Accent lighting outside creates appealing points of interest. The contrast in brightness to the surroundings emphasizes the innate presence of the exhibits. A ratio of 1:5 to 1:10 is recommended as a contrast between the surroundings and the exhibit. If therefore the museum facade has an illuminance of 50lx, the exhibit in the foreground should have accent lighting of around 250lx. If the surroundings have a low illuminance of 5lx, 50lx on a sculpture for example is sufficient as a focal point. Of course, stronger or weaker brightness contrasts are also possible for a certain long-distance effect—you decide for yourself.
Select precisely alignable luminaires
Correct alignment of the light beam onto the exhibit is crucial for high visual comfort. For this reason, ERCO projectors and floodlights have pan-and-tilt adjustment. An adjustment aid on the outside of the housing makes it possible to identically align several projectors and floodlights. Ground-recessed luminaires can also be pan-and-tilt adjusted as directional spotlights, so that even inconspicuous luminaires installed in the ground can provide impressive and precise lighting. You can also help to avoid spill light in the atmosphere with optimally aligned light beams, thus supporting dark sky related concepts.
Correct use of light colors
The color of light has a significant influence on the perception of art outdoors. Warm light colors such as 3000K are suitable for warm-toned materials such as wood, whilst cooler light colors such as 4000K are more suitable for cooler surfaces such as exposed concrete.
Plan with weather resistant luminaires
Pay attention to the protection rating with outdoor luminaires. All ERCO projectors, floodlights and wallwashers have an IP65 protection rating, which means they are dustproof and protected against jets of water from all directions. The robust construction of the luminaires also withstands high wind loads in exposed mounting locations. The housing is made of corrosion-resistant cast aluminum with double powder coating and is therefore particularly weather-resistant. The no-rinse surface treatment ensures a reduced dirt deposit. Ground-recessed luminaires have an IP68 protection rating. This means the luminaires are also protected against the consequences of continuous submersion in water such as flooding.
Correctly illuminating different objects
Freestanding objects
Attract the attention of viewers to exhibits by effectively displaying outdoor art with light. Accent lighting brings art to life and makes it exciting with a high-contrast interplay of light and shadow. Whilst the surroundings fade into the background with accent lighting, they remain visible with floodlights and show the object in its context.
Objects on the wall
Art installed on museum facades or walls can be illuminated with projectors, floodlights and wallwashers or with ground-recessed luminaires as directional spotlights or wallwashers. Narrow distributions (8° to 30°) intensively accentuate the object whilst floodlights with wide distributions (50° to 90°) also emphasize the surroundings of the facade. Wallwashers illuminate the wall as a complete unit and, thanks to their uniform distribution of brightness, display the object on an equal footing with the facade.
Example lighting and arrangement of luminaires
Projectors
Accent lighting impressively models objects such as sculptures in outdoor settings. The position and number of luminaires used influence the effect of light and shadow. When an object is illuminated frontally by a projector with spot distribution (approx. 15°), the modelling effect is weak. Two projectors from different directions create a balanced three-dimensional effect. An inclination angle (α) of approx. 30° is suitable for accent lighting with projectors. For illumination from three sides, an arrangement (β) with luminaires each offset by 120° is suitable.
Arrangement: α = 30°, ß = 120°
Tip:
To illuminate an approx. 2m large sculpture installed on a pedestal from a distance of 8m with >50lx, a projector with 6W LED module and spot distribution (approx. 15°) is needed.
Floodlights
Floodlights with wide flood distribution (approx. 50°), or extra wide flood (approx. 90°) for very large objects, are suitable for the uniform illumination of larger objects outdoors. Thanks to the wide light distribution, a low wattage is sufficient because the luminaire can be positioned near to the object. Wide distribution floodlights illuminate objects in a balanced way and in the context of their surroundings. The object is perceived as a whole, and modelling of the details as well as the brilliance is less than with accent lighting. The ideal inclination angle (α) for this is approximately 30°.
Arrangement: α = 30°
Tip:
A 4m high, round sculpture becomes an attractive focal point (approx. 50lx) when illuminated from a distance of 2m with a floodlight with 6W LED module and extra wide flood (80°) distribution.
Ground-recessed luminaires
Directional spots are pivotable ground-recessed luminaires for accentuating individual areas or objects with narrow (approx. 8°) to medium-wide distribution (approx. 30°). The lighting from below creates an interesting but alienating effect because the light comes from an unaccustomed direction compared to daylight from above.
For accent lighting with ground-recessed luminaires, a 25° inclination angle (α) of the luminaire head has proven to be a good choice. This ensures good modelling without excessive grazing light.
Arrangement: α = 25°
Tip:
To illuminate a 1m high sculpture from 1m, a directional spotlight with 6W LED module and spot distribution (approx. 15°) is suitable.
Identifying the right luminaire for any distance
A short lighting distance to the exhibit requires wide light distribution. With increasing distance, a narrower distribution is required to avoid spill light outside the exhibit and to enable dark sky related lighting concepts. To achieve 50lx on the exhibit, a 12W LED module at a distance of 3m and a 24W LED module at a distance of 20m are sufficient.
Technical features
Quality of light with precision
ERCO luminaires for outdoors project light using highly efficient lens technology. This generates precisely defined beams of light of approximately 8° to 90° – and no spill light. Noteworthy is that high illuminance is achieved even at low wattages.
From small to large
You'll find the right size and suitable lumen package for every lighting task. For projectors, floodlights and wallwashers, selection ranges from 2W/210lm to 96W/13200lm: ideal for small to very large artworks outdoors.
Extremely durable
Due to excellent maintenance of luminous flux, ERCO luminaires feature high security of investment: L90/B10 with up to 50,000 operating hours. This results in low-maintenance operation over 25 years with illumination of 5 hours per day and without a significant reduction in luminous flux, and still with excellent photometric properties.
High visual comfort
ERCO develops luminaires that provide excellent shielding of the light source due to their special housing design. The light source thus remains concealed, resulting in a particularly high level of visual comfort.
Customize
"ERCO individual" offers extensive options for the customizing of product ranges: www.erco.com/individual
Up to 10 light distributions
Always the right light distribution – from accentuating small details to floodlighting high facades. With some luminaires, you can simply change the light distributions yourself.
Expand standards with accessories
Adapt luminaires to special lighting tasks with interchangeable lenses and filters
