Outdoor Lighting for Cultural Heritage: Translating Daylight into a Nighttime Scene within a Rural Context
Author
Rabbah, Lilas
Term
4. Term
Education
Publication year
2026
Submitted on
2026-05-26
Abstract
This thesis explores how outdoor lighting can be designed so that a rural heritage building retains its daylight identity and continues to function as a clear landmark after dark. Using Kirke Hyllinge Church as a case study, the project combines historical, spatial, sensory, social, and luminous analyses to develop three key design criteria: rural identity, legibility, and the translation of daylight into a nighttime lighting scheme. Based on a detailed luminous analysis, three design parameters are defined to guide decisions on how much light is needed, which façade elements and orientations require illumination, and in which directions the light should be cast. The proposed design employs warm, restrained lighting that evokes a memory of sunrise or sunset through its shadow patterns, textures, and light direction, highlighting the apse, tower, south façade, and material articulation so that the church remains legible from various distances. The proposal is evaluated through small-scale lighting tests, DIALux simulations with false-color comparison, and a POLQ-inspired questionnaire that incorporates feedback from both locals and travelers. The findings indicate that rural heritage buildings can be illuminated in ways that go beyond mere visibility, extending the perceptual qualities of daylight into the night, and that the developed design parameters can serve as a potential model for future projects in similar contexts.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan udendørs belysning kan udformes, så et ruralt kulturarvsbyggeri bevarer sin dagslysidentitet og fortsat fungerer som et tydeligt pejlemærke efter mørkets frembrud. Med Kirke Hyllinge Kirke som case kombineres historiske, rumlige, sanselige, sociale og lysmæssige analyser for at udvikle tre centrale designkriterier: rural identitet, læsbarhed og oversættelse af dagslys til natlys. På baggrund af en detaljeret lysanalyse formuleres tre designparametre, der styrer beslutninger om lysmængde, hvilke facader og elementer der skal belyses, og i hvilken retning lyset skal rettes. Designforslaget arbejder med varm, afdæmpet belysning, der vækker en stemning af solopgang eller solnedgang gennem skygger, teksturer og lysretning, og som fremhæver apsis, tårn, sydfacade og materialernes artikulation, så kirken forbliver læsbar på forskellige afstande. Forslaget evalueres gennem småskalaforsøg, DIALux-simuleringer med falsk-farve-analyse samt et POLQ-inspireret spørgeskema, der inddrager både lokale og rejsende. Resultaterne indikerer, at rurale kulturarvsbygninger kan lyssættes ud over ren synlighed, så dagslysets hierarkier og stemning videreføres om natten, og at de udviklede designparametre kan fungere som et muligt modelgrundlag for fremtidige projekter i lignende kontekster.
[This abstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]