The lighting concept, called ‘dawn and dusk’, is inspired by the Nordic sky. The illumination refers to the cycle of light from sunset to sunrise. It highlights the particular changes throughout the seasons. Inspired by nature and by heritage, it evokes the Cathedral’s past.This concept is beautifully illustrated in the Estonian tale ‘Koit Ja Hämarik’ which symbolizes the meeting of daylight and night.This story captures the ever changing light cycle and the interplay between day and night. The lighting replicates the warm glow cast on the Cathedral at dusk, extending its duration. The warm light seems to emanate from the base of the Cathedral, becoming increasingly warmer to the reddish hue at the top. The warmth of the light complements the brickwork’s red tones. The transitions are smooth almost imperceptible throughout the night, cycling through six different scenes. The system adjusts the scene’s timing based on the night lenght which varies significantly during the year.
The design intends to generate new memories to cherish and encourage more visitors to join and take part in the now alive story of “KOIT JA HÄMARIK”. We want to create a playful environment that would encourage a positive attitude towards darkness. Koit Ja Hämarik only meet at summer equinox (midsommar), but we wish to celebrate love every day as in their engagement: “Where love is always young and new”. Our lighting design, like their story, connects the power of love with the Estonian values.
The Cathedral is located in a park with a hilltop position, catching the light at Dawn and Dusk. While developing the concept, warm lights were chosen to replicate this feeling. The dynamic scenes and the repeated cycle is directly inspired by the northern light variations. In the middle of the night, the light is barely visible with low light levels. Therefore the installation not only respects the environment, it replicates the natural light rythm, standing out as a landmark. The Cathedral is prominent in the surroundings becoming a glowing landmark, reducing the feeling of insecurity. Balancing effectively the contrast between light and shadows, the installation has a positive social impact and preserve the environment. Using warm light at low level and aimed correctly enables to avoid light pollution while protecting the living species. The illumination is blending in its natural environment and promoting darkness showing a prime example of conservation.
The installation is thought to be unobtrusive and invisible to the public eye. The aim is to respect the architecture and protect the heritage. Therefore, we developped custom made brackets and fixations for the fixtures, allowing easy dismounting for maintenance reasons. Some fixations were adapted to resist the harsh nordic weather conditions. To avoid any additional lighting poles around the site, the urban public lighting was also adapted to blend in with the installation.
Every fixture is controlled via DMX, which enables the smooth, almost invisible light change throughout the night. Six different scenes are programmed from sunset to sunrise. The scenes and their duration are adapted depending on the night duration. It calculates the nights and ajusts the scenes accordingly. Therefore, the system and its technology allows the installatioin to be completely driven by natural elements. The light levels are accorded to daylight and decrease throughout the night.
The installation is designed with high quality materials and LED fixtures combined with DMX controller. Considering the dimmed scenarios, the life span is expected to be even longer. The chosen materials are high resistance and care was taken to protect the cables with copper covers. To facilitate the installation maintenance, the fixtures are controlled remotely. The public embraced directely the new lighting and made it their own, which encourages their determination to keep the project alive.
The biggest challenge for this installation was respecting the heritage of the cathedral. Avoid disturbance for any species and making little to no interventions into the building itself. A big challenge was also to preserve the night sky in the parkland that surrounds the Cathedral. As such, luminaires were designed to be as inobtrusive as possible, keeping hidden from the public eye, while remaining reusable and dismountable, so as not to damage the cathedral’s brickwork.
