If you’re thinking something seems off about the downtown views of St. Louis this month, your eyes are not deceiving you. It’s the lights, or rather the lack thereof.
The Gateway Arch has gone dark at night through the month of September – intentionally, and for good reason. The National Park Service turns off the Arch’s exterior lighting during peak autumn bird migration. Reducing nighttime illumination can help birds make their way through the Mississippi River corridor migration route by way of less artificial light interference.
To us, this is a great reminder that good outdoor lighting isn’t always about adding more light. More often than not, it’s about using light more thoughtfully.
What Can Homeowners Learn from the Gateway Arch’s Lights-Out Policy?
We are certainly not recommending that St. Louis are homeowners turn off their outdoor and landscape lighting every September. That’s because residential landscape lighting and grand-scale monument lighting serve very different purposes.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a design principle worth borrowing: Light should go only where you want it and stay out of the places you don’t.
At Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of St. Louis, we know that a thoughtfully designed outdoor lighting system should enhance your home and landscape. Not flood your property with unnecessary brightness. That’s why we consider things like:
- Where lighting fixtures are aimed
- How bright each fixture should be
- Whether light is unintentionally spilling upward or onto neighboring properties
- Which hours lights actually need to be on
- Which areas of the landscape deserve emphasis
Because more light doesn’t automatically mean better outdoor lighting.
Great Landscape Lighting Is About Control
Ever driven past a home with one blinding lighting fixture that somehow manages to illuminate an entire area, including the driveway, the neighbor’s yard, half a tree, and maybe an aircraft passing overhead? Sure, it’s technically lighting, but we would hesitate to call it lighting design.
Professional landscape lighting uses carefully selected fixtures combined with intentionally planned beam spreads, brightness levels, placement, and aiming light to create particular effects. Whether that’s a beautiful tree that deserves uplighting, a walkway that requires enough illumination for safe passage, or architectural details worthy of focal lighting – all without washing the entire home and property with light.
Every light we install has a specific job, and when those jobs are coordinated, you home and property can look dramatically more beautiful without being dramatically bright.
We Ensure Your Outdoor Lighting Highlights Without Overpowering
There really is something special about a well-lit St. Louis home and landscape after sunset, and the goal should never be to make your property look like daytime. The beauty in professional outdoor lighting is in revealing what darkness would otherwise conceal. Texture in a stone wall, the shape of a mature oak tree, the curve of a walkway, the architecture of a home, or outdoor living spaces where family and friends gather – all are worthy of lighting that showcases their beauty at night.
At Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of St. Louis, we work with every client not only to decide what to illuminate, but how much illumination is really required in each space. This is a fine balance that can only be met when you work with an experienced outdoor lighting contractor.
Searching for landscape lighting near me?
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of St. Louis can take your home or business’ exterior to the next level with high-quality landscape lighting, professionally installed and made to last. Get in touch with us at (636) 202-0369 to schedule your consultation today!
Ask about our Shine 365 outdoor lighting warranty program and keep your outdoor lighting system shining beautifully for life!
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of St. Louis offers professional outdoor lighting repair and maintenance on any outdoor lighting system, no matter the age or who installed it.