Guidelines for optimising commercial outdoor lighting

Our lighting design for a dark sky

Sustainable and environmentally friendly outdoor lighting for commercial and industrial areas offers great potential. Our guide to optimising commercial lighting reduces light pollution – while maintaining safety and efficiency.

The basis is a study carried out by Ruairí O’Brien on behalf of the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment in the Premnitz Industrial Park, located in the Westhavelland Nature and Star Park (approx. 70 km west of Berlin). The region was recognised as Germany’s first star park in 2014 and is committed to preserving natural nocturnal landscapes through responsible lighting. The measures presented here were developed in collaboration with two local companies and serve as a model for other locations.

Core measures:

• Targeted lighting (only where necessary)
• Optimised light distribution (minimised light spill)
• Shielding against stray light
• Reduced reflection (through darker surfaces)

Advantages:

• Environmental protection (nature, night and climate)
• Cost reduction (lower energy consumption)

The guideline serves as a model and is suitable for commercial and industrial areas.

baroque-modern-design

Christmas lighting concept for Karlsruhe city center

Ruairí O’Brien’s contemporary and futuristic lighting concept combines Karlsruhe’s baroque urban structure with modern lighting design. Colors, geometric shapes and interactive elements emphasize the fan layout and create a dynamic, sustainable lighting experience.

Baroque fan layout

The radial streets and axes are used to create visual depth and symmetry. Each radial street is given its own color and lighting identity that reflects its surroundings.

Color scheme and light identity
A dynamic color gradient of warm and cool tones (red, orange, gold, green, blue) alternates along the main axes and guides visitors visually through the city with flowing transitions. Europa-Platz: red tones / Marktplatz: gold / Berliner Platz: blue/green

Central axes

Central Axis “Via Triumphalis”: Golden and warm white lighting emphasizes the historical main axis with arcs of light and symmetrical projections. Kaiserstraße: forms the thermodynamic color gradient as vertical axis.

Geometric light installations

Within the color concept, five platonic bodies serve as the design basis for the lighting installations in the streets. Integrated seating and multifunctional elements such as benches and pavilions promote quality of stay and combine comfort and aesthetics.

• Tetrahedron (Europa-Platz): Warm red tones
• Cube (market square): Golden arcs of light
• Octahedron (Lammstraße): Green columns of light
• Dodecahedron (Schlossplatz): Star pattern
• Icosahedron (Berliner Platz): Blue-turquoise light waves

Interactive elements:

Motion-dependent light sources and projections create a playful experience. Light installations on roofs and façades increase the spatial depth. Digital control enables flexible adjustments and energy-efficient operation.

The concept creates a festive, historic-modern atmosphere that guides visitors through the city through light and color.

Potsdam “Unterwegs im Licht” 2025

Ruairi O´briens Soundless-Music light composition

The spectral colours of light and the thermodynamics of (urban) life-trilogy part 3

From dusk until late in the evening, O’Brien’s artistic soundless-music light composition moved simultaneously and synchronously through the colour wheel of spectral light colours at 21 participating buildings in the city centre – including the Old Market, the city canal and the Garrison Church, which is currently being rebuilt.

The rhythmically and visually varied choreography allows children and non-children to experience colour theory in the most entertaining way. In addition to the inspiring overall composition of architectural lighting, which offers surprising changes of rhythm and sound in the form of visual sensory impressions, there is also media art to experience in the form of a laser show in the city canal or a façade projection on the Barberini.

Each of Ruairí O’Brien’s compositions for “Unterwegs im Licht” is unique in terms of the city-related themes, the facades involved, the colour palette, the intensity and the tempi. The special signature of the architect and light artist is to make each room, each building tangible in its individual character.

Basic concept:

• Dynamic lighting composition (Ruairí O’Brien’s “Soundless Music”)
• the colours are projected onto each building in individually harmonious compositions
• Change of specifically selected lighting moods and colours with a focus on the architectural and urban quality of the buildings and spaces in the centre of Potsdam.
• Lighting concept adapted to the participating buildings and the natural course of the day and the rhythm of the city (early evening/late evening/night)

Composition:

The spectral colours of light and the thermodynamics of (urban) life – trilogy part 3

The theme of the three-part Soundless Music composition, which began in 2022, is understandable and yet has depth and complexity.

It makes the main theme of the event, light, the defining content of the light composition.

The focus of the third part in 2025 is on the tertiary colours / analogue colour combinations.

Each of the selected spectral colours has a complementary colour (vertically opposite in the colour wheel) and analogous colours (horizontally adjacent). This can be used to create a variety of lighting moods (elegant, cheerful, melancholic, cheerful, …).

Concerns:

• to pay tribute to the phenomenon of light and its different levels of meaning: e.g. light as a natural phenomenon, from a scientific point of view, as the basis of colour theory or simply as a tribute to the beauty and colourfulness of the world created by light.
• Light can be experienced on a playful, philosophical and poetic level with a combination of science and art in the centre of Potsdam.
• The changing moods symbolise the constant flow, change and transformation as part of the world and of life.
• The lighting reflects the seasonal and diurnal changes in time, light and temperature in micro-compact form, from cold to warm.

Sequence:

• regular change of lighting moods at a frequency of 7 minutes
• Artistic interventions are embedded at regular intervals throughout the evening.

Lighting concept Duisburg-Marxloh

Lighting design for the redesign of August-Bebel-Platz, Weseler Straße

Competition entry 2024

Our robust luminaires, from a range of pole-mounted luminaires with an urban character developed for the location, can be individually configured and ensure optimum illumination of the square, street and micro-spaces. Light directed exclusively at the ground from above minimises glare and spill light and reduces light pollution.

The height, alignment and lighting technology of the individually curved poles with flexible spotlights can be adapted to the spatial conditions and enable optimum light distribution. The high-quality illumination of August-Bebel-Platz, starting from its peripheral areas, is made possible. All areas of the square are clearly visible. The perception of safety is supported.

Differentiated light colour temperatures structure the urban space and support orientation. Selected light distributions ensure uniform illumination of the traffic areas and accentuation of the peripheral areas. On August-Bebel-Platz, the large number of small light points and overlays create an exciting lighting experience.

The lighting concept supports communication and encounters. Small micro-spaces that invite people to linger are given a warm lighting atmosphere. On the square, colourful gobo projections provide temporary playful accents. Children are fascinated by the spray of water and light, which creates small rainbows from different perspectives. This liveliness also has a positive effect on the feeling of safety.

Individual lighting scenarios fulfil the respective requirements of the time of day or night. In the late hours of the night, the lighting can be set to ultra-warm white light and reduced luminous flux. Insect-friendliness and the protection of darkness are increased, while uniform illumination / safety remains guaranteed.

On festive occasions, special lighting moods can be created on August-Bebel-Platz, e.g. with increased colour intensity and individual motif projection.

Competition entry with QUERFELDEINS Landschaft | Städtebau | Architektur, Dresden

Visualisierung Ruairí O’Brien . Lichtdesign 2024

Lighting design for the new Kunstguss Lauchhammer experience centre

We are pleased to announce that we have been selected to join the team of experts working on the ambitious “Transformation 1.535°” project in Lauchhammer, Brandenburg, Germany. This extensive project spans two sites: “ERZ” (ORE) with art casting museum, art foundry and Friedenskirche in Lauchhammer-Ost (13.8 ha) and “KOHLE” (COAL) with bio-towers, activated sludge basin and relic park in Lauchhammer-West (32.2 ha).

Our contribution to the planning and development team is the creation and implementation of the lighting concepts for the public space, the landscaping, the art casting museum, the new “Education and Experience Centre for Art Casting and Industrial Culture” and the famous listed bio-towers (see picture).

The “Transformation 1.535°” project is one of the most ambitious cultural and tourism initiatives in Germany, if not in Europe. Its aim is to transform the remnants of East Germany’s coal industry history into a vibrant centre for art, education and tourism.

An important part of this project is the expansion of the Lauchhammer Art Casting Museum into an “Education and Experience Centre for Art Casting and Industrial Culture”. This centre will honour the region’s rich industrial heritage while promoting modern educational and cultural experiences.

The Biotowers, a unique and impressive example of East German industrial culture, are at the centre of this transformation.

These structures, which once bore witness to the region’s industrial prowess, will be brought back to life through exhibitions, information programmes and innovative lighting concepts so that they can be preserved and appreciated for future generations.

We are delighted to be able to contribute to this epoch-making project and to contribute to its sustainable and holistic success with our expertise in the communicative and aesthetic power of architectural lighting design.stay tuned for more updates on this exciting journey!

Transformation 1.535° COAL

Dresden International Airport – Lighting concept for the departure terminal

Our lighting concept for Terminal 1 at Dresden International Airport aims to build a bridge to the future. In addition to technical lighting to ensure traffic safety, precise light differentiation of individual areas, levels and elements helps travellers find their way around.

The architectural lighting design emphasises the spatial quality and the unmistakable industrial architecture of the terminal and underlines the uniqueness of Dresden Airport. It supports the positioning of the airport as a modern, open and future-orientated location of international stature.

The lighting concept combines technical lighting and light art to visually depict themes such as flying, the sky and mobility and to create a symbolic link between the past, present and future. This concept gives the previously anonymous hall a narrative dimension that offers a special experience for air travellers from all over the world.

The “flying carpet“,(a carpet of light) consisting of numerous curved downlights under the hall roof, creatively provides adequate illumination of the floor and creates a unique aesthetic. A “cloud of light“ immerses the entrance hall in dynamically changing lighting moods and uses reflective moving elements to create a constantly changing interplay of light and shadow, which has a fascinating effect both in natural daylight and with artificial lighting.

A light and glass sculpture, made of holographic and dichroic elements, enables visitors to be symbolically “beamed“ into the universe.

Client: Flughafen Dresden GmbH

Services provided: Terminal 2017 lighting concept

Architectural Lighting Design concept for the Brandenburg Theatre, Germany (2024)

Development of a lighting guideline

Lighting concept Sonotec, Halle (Saale)

Eternal Light

“Eternity”- Ruairí O’Brien competition entry for the Frechen Central Memorial

Ruairí O’Brien’s work of art “Eternity”, with its striking and at the same time simple elements in a material and metaphorical sense, forms a dignified space for remembering all victims of the National Socialist tyranny. The two vertical masts and the line of light floating horizontally between them mark and house the real Fre¬chen green space; At the same time, through the immaterial spaces in between, they inspire an unlimited mental wandering between times, spaces and events. A line crosses the sky and illuminates the ground below. At the same time, reference is made to the spatial and temporal significance of the topic. The meta-level created in this way, which can be perceived haptically / visually / with the senses, forms an expansion space and yet an ensemble with the information board designed for concrete, authoritative verbal information about the history.
“Simplicity gives complexity” – Simplicity allows and harbors great complexity here.
The work of art brings public attention to the central memorial site. It marks this central square as a central memorial day and night and symbolically refers to the places where the events took place. The work encourages you to linger, to pause, and offers flexible space for mediation work by institutions, groups and individual actors.
The line of light (bridge) that invites you to look, think and remember, it remains, it is always there.
The work of art has a noticeable day and night effect. Depending on the viewer’s location, depending on the time of year and day, depending on the weather, lighting conditions, environment and individual visitor’s condition, it develops its effect – sometimes more delicate, sometimes more intense, always with a long-distance and close-up effect.
Anyone who approaches the work of art opens up different perspectives and perceptions. Viewers are reflected in the masts, their gaze connecting their own self with the surroundings and the subject matter. The environment is reflected in it, light is reflected and directed.

German Embassy Dublin

Lighting concept for the design for the outdoor areas of the German Embassy in Ireland

We are excited to post our final design proposal for the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ireland
In this project, architecture, light and spatial art complement each other to provide the client with a solution to repair and enhance the courtyard areas of the German embassy in Dublin.
After successive and ongoing renovations of the embassy’s unique architecture with its six sided cluster concept, the courtyard areas required an architectural intervention to enhance the garden and courtyard areas for the staff to use on an everyday basis but also for formal and informal events.
The chosen design solution provides the embassy with a sculptural modular system that allows daylight interaction with dynamic reflective glass and stainless steel elements, provides seating and artificial lighting in different scenarios at night.
The nighttime scenarios can be controlled to create quiet peaceful scenes or spectacular light and sound immersive spatial experiences for the guests.

Client: Federal Office of Foreign Affairs Germany