Architectural Outdoor Lighting in Cleveland and Northern OH

At Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Northern OH, architectural outdoor lighting is both an art and a science. Architectural outdoor lighting includes illuminating any outdoor structure which can include pergolas, open porches, out buildings, and detached garages. But, primarily when we’re speaking of architectural outdoor lighting, we are referring to illuminating the facade of your home.

Take a look at the before and after picture below to see the difference in adding outdoor lighting to the home pictured.

What makes for good architectural facade outdoor lighting?

Every home is different so there is no precise answer about what constitutes good lighting. We can share some of the areas we look at when creating a design.

• Width
• Height
• Depth
• Texture
• Focal areas

Width/length

Well designed outdoor lighting should illuminate the facade of your home from one end to the other. In addition, if your home is on a corner or depending on the size of your yard, you may want to illuminate more than one facade on your home. There are several reasons to illuminate your entire facade from end to end. The first reason is aesthetics. If you are adding a custom outdoor lighting system to your home, you owe it to yourself to illuminate your entire facade. We have seen other lighting companies fail to illuminate the forward-facing garage area or fail to illuminate an entire portion of the home. The entrance is not the only element that should be illuminated. Good architectural lighting will span the length of your home from one end to the other.

Height

Similarly to illuminating from end to end, your exterior lighting should illuminate your home from ground to peak(s). Likely your home has several different roof lines that are viewable from the front of your home. Good lighting will showcase each of those thus covering the whole facade. This can become challenging when you have obstructions such as roof lines or other architectural elements that protrude and would leave a shadow beyond the architectural element. There are options. Down lights can be used above the architectural element or up lights can be placed atop a first story roof line illuminating upward to the top level roof line.

Depth

Most home facades are not flat and one-dimensional. Most have numerous architectural reliefs to give the home visual appeal and interesting more upscale architecture. One tenet of good outdoor lighting is to make the area look just as beautiful and dimensional in the evening as during the day. Lighting techniques can be employed to ensure the depth of your home’s facade can be appreciated at night as it is during the day.

Texture

As mentioned above, artful and effective lighting can render different facets of the front of your home visible at night even from far away. Take a look at the log home image below. Even from the distance, you can see the texture of the logs in this beautiful home.

Focal areas

While the home below has many stunning features, the chimney is spectacular. Not only is the facade faced with beautiful stone, but the architecture of the chimney is spectacular. Your home may have a turret, a cupola, a weather vane, or Juliet porch or another element that you love and makes your home unique. Ask your lighting designer to make sure to feature that element in their lighting design.