LIGHTSCAPE

An increasing number of cities are looking toward more people centric planning, based around energy saving and healthier lifestyles. This often in-volves greener space that makes way for pedestrians and cyclists and is less focused on cars and other motor traffic.

Lightscape is an investigation into lighting for the current pedestrian area, the Dean Path by the Water of Leith in Edinburgh. Currently unlit, the Dean Path has a green, 'rural' feeling walkway and cycle path that connects the centre of Edinburgh to nearby Stockbridge. The most popular part of the pathway along the Water of Leith during the day, the Dean Path can appear daunting at night set down at the bottom of a dark valley.

THE DEAN PATH SITE

Concentrating on three specific zones (St. Bernard’s Well, St. George’s Well and the approach to the Dean Bridge) this project studies how using tailored points of interest and patterned light can produce a creative but secure atmosphere for pedestrians.

ZONING

The St. Bernard’s Well (Zone One) is a symbol of the Dean Path in this location. A beautiful structure with a statue of the goddess Hygeia in the centre was used as a natural spring. I chose to not light the statue and instead focus a point of light on the dome. After discussion with local groups and the Water of Leith Trust I learned that there can be some problems with young people drinking alcohol at the statue and there has been some vandalism in the past.

Something that could be encouraged were the light to bring focus to the statue of Hygeia. Instead the negative space you see from the statue can be just as beautiful.It is thought that the benefits of the morning walk to the spring were more than the drinking water itself — even more reason to encourage people to walk their commuters in well lit spaces!

St. George’s Well (Zone 2) is a small structure inbetween the larger St. Bernard’s Well and the Dean Bridge. Local history states that anelderly lady in fact lived in this well for some time. To make the environment more interesting and immersive my design proposed a lampshade projection on the structure. This lighthearted element is intended to gather people’s interest in the area and my research found that people were comforted by this idea at the half way point along the path. There are two pillars opposite each other that act as a beacon to guide the persons along the path further.

The approach to the Dean Bridge (Zone 3) has some light spill from the street above and a large area of foliage to the side of the path. The path is far more open here and may lead to some feelings of insecurity. The proposed pattern light is intended to work as an ‘anti-camouflage’ that makes any movement more evident to the path user.

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

LOCAL WILDLIFE

Set in a valley but surrounded by residential areas, the Dean Path is home to an increasing amount of wildlife thanks to the effort to lessenthe pollution along the Water of Leith. It is important that the natural habitat is considered also as different light sources and colours can have negative effects on birds, bats, fish and mammals.

Studies show that green and blue light are the least interfering colour for plants and wildlife. However my research found that most people found green to feel a bit ‘too spooky’. Therefore the lights specified for this project are all a cooler blue LED.

The design for Lightscape would also propose that there be a lighting curfew in order to preserve the natural habitat for bats and fish in particular.

Current Electric Lighting Watercolour Studies of areas nearby, Saunders Street, Edinburgh

LIGHT POLLUTION AND THE NIGHT SKY

By layering navigational points of light with patterned light for ambience creates less glare and light pollution than current street lighting solutions.

Less light pollution means clearer night skies with more stars. As part of my research for Lightscape I asked people to tell me a memory from either sunrise, sunset or a starry night. 70% or participants picked the night sky, the majority of which told a happy memory that involved reflection. It seems a clear night sky has the potential for people to gain some perspective from their busy lives and this is something too much lighting has gradually removed from our cities over time.

WHO USES THE DEAN PATH?

Part of my research involved observing the people that use the walkway. I found that during the day this was predominantly pedestrians, cyclists, joggers, dog walkers, shoppers and tourists. After sunset there were very few people consisting of mainly dog walkers, joggers, cyclists and commuters.

Upon interviewing the users at night, I found most would prefer the space to have some light levels, although would not want to lose the dark space entirely.

There is also some evidence of mild graffitti and litter along the path.

Eye Priorites:1. Light2. Colour3. Motion4. Geometric Shapes

‘ANTI-CAMOUFLAGE’

With safety and pattern in mind, I researched camouflage. Many animals are patterned in order to blend in with their surroundings during the day. These patterns are often unexpected on their own but very effective as disguise in their environment. The same applies in Dazzle camouflage where ships are painted in complex or zig zag patterns to disguise them on the horizon.

With the eye priorities in mind, I propose the idea that by projecting patterned light, we are able to detect movement in our periphery more efficiently with patterned light by using the effects of camoflage in reverse whilst using less light at the same time.

Pattern, colour and light together during the day have a huge influence on artists and poets, yet it is often removed entirely from the night.

CASE STUDIES Increasingly lighting designers are looking at pattern in light.

‘Moonlit Theatre’ for YouTube, California involves a patterned lighting scheme by Oculus lighting, Santa Barbara. Cloud shaped light patterns are projected on to the ground with highlights of directional lighting in the space. Upon speaking with Oculus Lighting I learned that people found this lighting scheme created an ambient, intimate feel with minimal disturbance to neighbouring residential homes. However they discover that when movement was added to the patterned light the effect was slightly ‘gimmicky’ and did not fit in well with the overall design of the scheme.

Movement in light is intentionally not part of Lightscape as it could cause a similar feeling and cause some disorientation on the path.

’Broken Light,’ Rotterdam by Rudolf Teunissin is another example of patterned light whereby a glass optic is shaped to project patterned light on to the pavements alongside a lit road. This was intended to provide identity and rejuvenate the area at night. Identity is an important part of Lightscape through light pattern.

A shortquestionaire to get some idea of how people feel in general about walking, the city and time of day.

This was useful for an overall view. Perhaps most interesting is how many people would prefer a pedestrian friendly Edinburgh.

PARTICIPANT STUDY

To further my understanding of what was important to people when walking along a path at night, I created a series of diagrams to represent the Dean Path and asked participants to mark which path, on instinct they would rather walk down. They were instructed to go with their gut feeling and chose a path from each of the five scenarios.

The results were mixed but overall indicated that people preferred some directional light showing some perspective of distance and angle of the path, light on the actual path and patterned light.

TORCH TESTS

I then asked 8 participants who took part in the previous zoning experiment to walk along the path alone with a torch. They were instructed to turn on the torch as and when they felt they needed it. Walking several paces behind them I observed where and when they shone the torch and how often.

Each participant commented on how they were surprised how little they used the torch considering the area appeared so dark when standing on the lit street.

Most often the participants shone the torch on the path itself or off to the side near the Dean Bridge where the fencing on both sides comes to an end.

During these tests, it became apparent how cyclist’s light can cause glare and approach at great speed which was disorientating for the participants.

ZONE ONESt. Bernard’s Well

When walking from Stockbridge this is the fist point you reach where there is little of no light spill from surrounding street lighting. There is a point of light at the top of the dome so that people can recognise they are approaching the well but no light inside the well so as not to encourage loitering or vandalism at the well.

There is also a lit tree further down the path to give the users a sense of the next curve in the path. Along the right hand side of the railing are the motion sensor lights and there is a proposed projector which can be used on the lower secondary path or main path as required.

ZONE TWO

St. George’s Well

There is an interior lampshade on the well in response to the elderly lady who once inhabited it. This is using techniques similarto theatre to mimic that someone is home and bring an element of little know history and a friendly, familiar sense of lighting to the outdoors.

These patterns and effects can all be changed with new gobos should there be any need to.

ZONE THREE

Approaching the Dean Bridge

As you approach the Dean Bridge from Stockbridge direction you reach a part of the path which has no fencing to the left. Here is where the majority of the patterned light is proposed. This is to bring light to the area without an overpowering presence. As you approach around this corner there is light spill from the bridge but a very dark area underneath the bridge, where a lit tree is proposed to regain the users focus to the path.

At this point the river becomeslouder and it is more important to compensate lesser hearing with more sight.

The projected pattern can be changed with a gobo projector. This means that no pattern is permanent and that allows for creative flexibility for any local occasions. For example the im-age on the left shows the Water of Leith Dean Path waterwheel symbol which is found on the benches along the path.

Identity is an important feature that can be included in lighting design and help promote an areas past.

IDENTITY

Left: View from over the river. There is little light distrubance from low level path light.

MOTION SENSOR LIGHTING FOR CYCLISTS

In order to deal with the problem of glare from passing cyclist lights a solution for motion sensor lighting along the side of the path has been proposed. This would be programmed to switch on ahead of an approaching cyclist, both to allow better visibility on the path for them and to alert any pedestrians of their presence and speed. These would then fade off once the cyclist is past.

The motion sensor lighting would also be able to remain on at the busiest pedestrian times, such as commuting during winter.

OTHER LIGHTING EXPERIMENTS

To see more about this project and others please visit roslynleslie.com