Landscape Lighting Design

Landscape lighting design should never be overlooked. It is an investment that all Houstonians looking to upgrade the value of their property should make. This is because the house and the surrounding landscape are both types of living space. One is interior, secluded, enclosed, and private—representing the refinements of civilization and the mental aspects of humanity that makes us unique among living things. The other is an open space, organic, vibrant, and expanding—speaking to our instincts still on a deeply unconscious level. To make a property work, we must move it beyond this duality into a third realm of aesthetic personal experience. Otherwise, it will remain trapped between the polarities of the bourgeois and the mundane, offering more of the same as every other property with only minor differentiation.

Real living is feeling. It is a truth beyond words and definition—something we must sense without the need to explain what we are experiencing. Nothing creates more feeling in the heart than light. It is both a universal phenomenon and a personal one. Its rich import ranges from the spiritual to the material, and from the sublime to the beautiful. Landscape lighting is the one key element that makes every other design element become visible in more than one sense of the term. Not only does the form of a thing become clear, but the very essence of a thing emerges when it is properly illuminated at night.

This is not to say that landscape lighting design is abstract or mystical. Rather, it is a science used to reveal the feeling within the forms of things. Water, for example, is another universal symbol that conveys a multiplicity of emotional meanings to the human soul. Lighting a water feature on the landscape such as a pond, a fountain, or a swimming pool immediately draws the eye of any viewer directly to an image that emerges out of the darkness and elevates the entire property into a convergence of powerful, unspoken meaning. This feeling of elevation can then be expanded throughout the landscape by lighting outdoor structures, gardens, and hardscape design. Stone patios can be emphasized as gathering places. Arbors become intimate retreats under the overhanging branches of illuminated trees. Statuary appears regal and timeless in a curious blend of light and shadow. Gardens become pathways with an invitation of warmth.

All of this is made possible by remembering one simple fact: landscapes are three dimensional realms consisting of many layers of color, form, and texture carefully interwoven together. Lighting design must follow this progression by likewise layering multiple levels and degrees of illumination over specific design elements that define the architectural, organic, and decorative specifics of the residence. Amateur designers and do-it-yourself manuals often mislead people into believing this myth that too many fixtures will create too much light. They recommend using brighter lights in fewer numbers so the light will evenly spread throughout the yard. This would be analogous to using a single lamp without a lampshade to light an entire room. The glare would blind your eyes, even from an indirect angle. This is never done inside a home, and it should never be done outside a home, either.

Professional landscape lighting treats each element of design as a realm of experience that must be approached from its own unique perspective. Many different types of fixtures are needed to address all the many different sizes, shapes, and colors that are found throughout the property. These fixtures must all be placed in different locations and precisely aimed to do proper justice to their respective subject matter. Ultimately as well, the intention of both landscape architectural services and outdoor lighting design should be to unify architecture with Nature and bring indoor and outdoor living space together into an entirely new world of light.