Union Park, UK
The lighting design for Union Park supports the creation of Wembley Park’s first major public green space in over 150 years, with its role as a welcoming, sustainable and community-focused space, and reinforcing Wembley Park as a cultural and entertainment destination that can be enjoyed safely and comfortably from day into night.
At its core, the lighting strategy is guided by people, nature and culture, responding sensitively to the park’s diverse character zones while enhancing wellbeing, biodiversity and placemaking.
When shaping the lighting narrative for the park, a wide spectrum of multi-faceted requirements was taken into consideration. The configuration of the site and landscape design led us into weaving multiple layers of light approach that worked hand in hand to satisfy urban regulations whilst providing a comfortable and enjoyable environment to the end user.
Layers of Light
-A base layer of functional lighting that encourages user to navigate and enjoy the park facilities. The intention was to create meandering paths with low light levels to experience calm and quiet atmosphere. The variation in treatment of light and intensity creates contrast and adds interest.
– Accents to selective tress and landscape elements such as benches provide focal points within the open space. A layer for human scale experience is created, expressing the materiality and texture of the landscape.
-The final layer of surprise and theatre is added in the form of lighting to the water features that provide a defining character to the space, and lighting gobo projections to play areas.
A layered lighting hierarchy also reflects the park’s contrasting environments:
Active/Urban orientated Southern Zone
Brighter, carefully controlled lighting supports play areas, paddling pools, outdoor gym equipment and multi-use games spaces. Light levels are calibrated to promote safety, visibility and inclusivity for families and young users, while avoiding glare and spill. A rhythm of lighting intensities is created through a combination of tall multi-head poles and pathway bollards.
Nature orientated Northern Zone
The more rugged, meadow-like landscape is lit with a restrained approach, using low-level pathway lighting to protect biodiversity and maintain a sense of immersion in nature. Paths are softly illuminated for guidance, allowing darker zones to remain for wildlife habitats and ecological balance.
A strong emphasis is placed on dark-sky principles and biodiversity protection, with careful control of light spill around wildflower meadows, bug habitats and tree canopies.
By balancing safety, ecology and overall atmosphere, the lighting design contributes to the park’s significant physical and mental health benefits, creating an environment that feels calm, inclusive and connected to nature even after sunset.
The lighting design for Union Park is supportive and purposeful, encouraging evening activity and celebrating cultural activities, while preserving the integrity of the landscape. It ensures Union Park remains a vibrant, sustainable and welcoming public space at all hours, firmly embedded within the community of Wembley Park.