PARKLYGTEN
In the awareness that energy is a shared and scarce resource, the idea arose for a park lamp that rethinks the way we bring light to urban spaces after dark. For lighting to be sustainable, it must make sense - it shouldn't be merely functional but should also enhance aesthetics, offer experiences, and create spaces for people.

Parklygten was created with the ambition to make lighting personal, diverse, and to ensure that we look up, meet the sky, and feel comfortable.

The park lamp was developed for the 30,000 square meters of landscape surrounding Danske Bank's new headquarters at Postgrunden in Copenhagen. The lamp is made of galvanized steel and hand-blown glass, referencing the neighboring districts and old Copenhagen lamps.

CONCEPT & VISION
During several bike rides with lighting designers, architects, and the client, we experienced many different illuminated urban spaces and developed a shared language and understanding of lighting. From these bike rides came the desire and concept of “Combination and Variation.” A combination of fixtures and a variation in light. Combination and variation can be compared to how most of us arrange our homes — few of us would light, for example, our living room with just one fixture. Therefore, our urban spaces shouldn't be lit with just one fixture either. At the same time, we didn't want to dominate the experience with lighting technology, so we wanted a simple lighting approach that could offer multiple functions through light control.

We dreamed of the park lamp containing three different lighting approaches:

  • An identity-creating lantern light

  • A classic downward functional light

  • A space-creating and beautifying light

conceptural isometric sketch

Project: Bespoke Product Design
Client: Danica Ejendomme
Designers: Fortheloveoflight, Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter, EWO lighting
Collaborators:
Glas Artists: Holmegaard Glasværk, Bjørn Friborg & Jonas Niedermann
Lighting Supplier: Anker & Co.

Status: Built in 2024
fotografer: Anker & co + Fortheloveoflight

 

LIGHT PERFORMANCE

“we imagined a visually light but yet an intricate technological easter-egg that could create atmosphere - a performance of light.
This is the idea and vision behind the Parklight. The light fixture becomes a sculptural element that, through its multi-layered light and control, embraces the night, sculpts the surroundings and creates space for people. A luminaire that reflects the past in its materiality, the present in its vision.“

 

POETIC LIGHT CONTROL

´Is the heart of any lighting system. It's not just about energy saving and operational optimization but is crucial for the experience of light during the dark hours. Well-programmed light control creates clear hierarchies in the visual experience and ensures a strong identity in the lighting. Therefore, the park lamp's layers of light can be controlled individually to ensure the light fades in beatifully and poetic.
The park lamp should not just "turn on" as a functional layer of light but embrace the night.

The individual lighting approaches are controlled as follows:

  • The identity-creating light is an inner glow where the fixture lights itself. The identity-creating light turns on at the edge of civil twilight. The park lamp gains personality, identity, and gives a sense of place and scale. It becomes more than just light—it becomes a destination in the city.

  • The downward-directed functional light will fade up at the edge of nautical twilight, providing the necessary light for orientation.

  • The space-creating light will fade up at the edge of astronomical twilight, creating space within the space. The light will shape trees and vertical surfaces, ensuring that we lift our gaze and look up towards the tops of towers and the sky.

In this way, the light turns on like a ritual, gaining personality and variability throughout the year.

 
 

:: PROOF OF CONCEPT MOCKUP ::

 
 

:: GLASS PRODUCTION ::

:: PROTOTYPING ::