How to make architectural lighting of the facade of the house?

Architectural lighting of building facades is widely used both for illumination of residential buildings and for the design of business centers, hotels and even temples. For quite a long time, this idea has been popular, but many do not even mean that you can do the illumination of the facade of the cottage with your own hands. In this article we will analyze the main types of architectural lighting, the requirements for lighting fixtures and, of course, the rules for installing lighting fixtures.

Content:

Types of backlight
Features of the choice of fixtures
Design and installation

Types of backlight

To begin with, we briefly consider what types of facade lighting can be. So, the following lighting options are considered the most common:

Flood light. Not suitable for private houses, as in this case, the entire facade is illuminated, including the windows. This can greatly interfere with sleep and even more so - show defects in the cottage. In addition, powerful lighting fixtures are used to create a flood architectural lighting, which is impractical from the point of view energy saving. Flood lighting of facades is used to emphasize the beauty of monuments or important buildings in the city center.
Local backlight. The photo below demonstrates this technique. It can be used both in the private sector and for lighting facades of buildings. In this case, the main goal is to highlight the bright elements of the building and distract attention from possible defects.
Hidden lighting. It can be represented by silhouette lighting (the outlines of the building are highlighted against a dark background), contour (roof contours, window openings, entrance group are highlighted) or dynamic lighting (the ability to control the color of the glow, brightness and even the direction of the light flux). We provided all the ideas in the photo examples:
Building silhouette

Bright contours of the house

Color dynamics

If you want to make inexpensive architectural lighting of the facade of the house, the best option would be local or contour lighting. In this case, the installation of fixtures and the design of the entire system can be done with your own hands, which we will talk about below.

Features of the choice of fixtures

So, the following requirements are imposed on lamps for facade lighting of buildings and structures:

They must be waterproof IP degree of protection not less than 65.
Operation should not cause problems.
The brightness and power of the luminaires should provide not only the decorative design of the facade, but also perform the function of the general exterior lighting of the territory.
Of course, the products should be economical, consume as little electricity as possible and at the same time satisfy the requirements of paragraph 3.
Installation should not cause difficulties.
If the lamp is ground-based, be sure to choose the type of design in which the glass will be impact-resistant.

Based on this, we recommend making architectural lighting of the facade of a country house using waterproof led strip, LED spotlights and street wall sconces (well, if they are rotary).

Design and installation

Of course, the design specialist should design architectural facade lighting. He will perform an accurate calculation of the number of fixtures, the optimal places for their placement and select the appropriate technical characteristics of the products. If you yourself decide to design the facade illumination of the cottage, then we recommend using the free DIALux program (one of the best programs for calculating and modeling lighting) Before designing, we advise you to familiarize yourself with the standards of architectural lighting of buildings that are provided inSNiP 23-05-95.

An example of system design in a program:

Installation of the backlight must be carried out according to the instructions supplied with the fixtures. Manufacturers describe how to mount the spotlights, as well as the nuances of installation and connection. In general, about how to connect led strip we told in the corresponding article. About floodlight connection also discussed in a separate publication. It is recommended that all wires be pulled along the facade in the duct, which will protect the wiring from adverse weather conditions and minor mechanical damage.

If you really thought about making the installation yourself, we recommend watching this video:

That’s actually all that I wanted to tell you about what architectural lighting of building facades is, what types of lighting exist and how to install the fixtures yourself. We hope the information was useful and interesting for you!

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