Creative Exterior Lighting

Birmingham, Michigan

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ILLUMINATA Test Gardens

1542 Washington Blvd., Birmingham

This project involves the gardens surrounding our home office. We felt we should have some lighting to show off our work, test different ideas, techniques and fixtures and to generally experiment. Consequently it will be continually evolving.

The project took a while to come to fruition as the garden is under notice to change radically but then I realized that it will never be finished anyway so better to light what we have now and adapt later. Unfortunately we lost a huge Elm from the front yard this Spring so we needed to borrow our neighbors Spruce tree from which to moonlight the area as much as possible. It is not in an ideal location but better than nothing. To thank them I gave them some lighting in their yard.

Although I wanted to showcase what I can do, one is always limited to what the yard brings to the table and right now the gardens are not ideal for lighting as far as landscape design. We still have the original plantings but have strengthened the structure with proper bedlines and moved a few things around. Some selective pruning has helped too. Next year we hope to completely redesign the gardens to be more suitable for lighting and to look spectacular during the day too.

Existing site issues fortunately do not include street lighting but we had an ugly porch fixture, one insignificant side door light on exposed conduit and two cheap looking, architecturally inappropriate carriage lights by the patio doors. Some of the neighbors lighting can be a bit harsh but is often not on.

I improved the lighting in the front porch by installing recessed down lights in place of the ceiling mounted fixture. This is the first time I have used this fixture in this application as I normally utilize a recessed can with a dimmed 65W lamp. These are 18W and are not dimmed so we get better color rendition and no glare. Although the original was shielded by the structure from the street it was still quite ugly and bright from within or close up. Three TEKA path lights were installed along the path to mark the step and the beginning of the walk. They accent the annuals and Hostas nicely too. I wanted to moonlight the whole front yard and parking area from the street tree but as it died I utilized the neighbors spruce instead. The canopy is a little dense so I thinned it out as much as I dared. The cherry to the right is in an awkward place and leans a little too. I felt obliged to light it but is not the best specimen. I used brass up lights from Lumiere in the mulch ring but it may benefit from having lights further out. Unfortunately it is very close to the neighbors driveway so the ring can not go any larger so I would have to resort to below grade fixtures. I really wanted to utilize the fixtures selected as these are some of the most widely used in my projects. To complement it I up lit the spruce's trunk with the ivy growth on it. The sculpture was added as a gift to the neighbors using a cast bronze, buried fixture from KIM.

After installation I felt the right foundation bed lacked some attention. There was a large gap in the lighting between the porch and the cherry and the effect did not flow, there being a definite interruption in continuity. I initially tried a fourth path light on the corner but I soon replaced that with a 20 watt down light mounted on the side of the porch. On a client's project I might have heisted to do this but it worked very nicely and I will look for opportunities to apply this method in the future. I have since added a second one on the front of the porch to wash the bed in front. This balances the right side beautifully but actually negates the need for the path lights but they are staying as I still feel they provide a nice accent and I love the TEKA fixtures and want to show them off somewhat.

My wife and I love to eat out on the deck so my primary concern in the rear was to create a space conducive to outdoor dining. This usually requires opening the space out by creating depth through lighting placed in the periphery of the yard and not necessarily on the dining area itself. For this, candles do very well and are very complimentary to Caucasian skin tones too. To lessen the glare from the existing carriage lanterns I installed soffit mounted down lights with 12w lamps. The carriage lanterns were then dimmed to almost nothing. This is a perfect example of my philosophy of utilizing existing lighting as an ornamental, architectural feature while introducing good lighting from another source. To make sure they always work concurrently the dimmer for the carriage lights was replaced and now responds to the signals from the control system. To add more indirect lighting I installed small fixtures under the benches. This added a very warm effect to the deck and envelopes the diners in a pool of light. Another TEKA step light aids navigation of the steps.

To paint a picture for my diners and to create a sense of depth I up lit the centrally located Rose of Sharon along the periphery and the whimsical doll house lightwas added as another interesting element. I would prefer a third accent but the only one in the garden is the rather large but immature shade tree and as this is so close to the deck it would be overwhelming if up lit Instead I selected to wash it gently with a small flood light nestled into the Hosta border. This wakens up the tree and adjacent areas without grabbing the viewers attention . It also serves to connect the deck to the doll house and ultimately to the rose of Sharon. The show is then taken over by the down lighting from the neighbors maple which really opens up the lawn and helps increase the sense of depth.

Two other important areas exist in the rear: the transition from the drive and the utility area on the opposite side of the house. The transition area also contains the grill so being able to provide light for grilling was beneficial. Fortunately the grill sits just under the soffit of the storage shed so three small lights mounted here together with the light from the neighbors maple provide sufficient, glare free lighting for walking through the space and for grilling. I also placed a small light inside the storage shed with a local, door activated switch so we can see inside when the door is opened.

The utility area is somewhere we go often after dark because it contains our composting bin and we often discard our vegetable scraps in it after eating. Because it is a utility area I didn't want it lit all the time so I installed three small soffit mounted lights and put them on a switch on the wall as you approach. It works wonderfully.

Look for future modifications to this project especially in 2005 when the gardens should be completely redesigned.

 

Paul Eddleston
September 2004