Roadways, Buildings, Parking Lots

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It's not often that one encounters really effective and attractive outdoor lighting these days, so the exceptions really stand out. The following images and comments focus on both good and not-so-good examples.

Often the fixtures used are unshielded or only partially shielded, and pole heights are very high to spread the light as far as possible and to reduce the number of poles needed. They light far more than just the roadways. Then, there are the abominable 'acorn' style fixtures...and 'wall packs' on building façades.

In other cases, really good fixtures have been installed, but they are not installed correctly and their performance falls far short of what it would be if simple re-aiming were done.

Let's Have a Look

Heading East on Route 7 from Cascades Parkway, I turned left onto Lexington Drive where I had noticed some interesting-looking roadway lighting during the day. It turned out that the fixtures were attractive during the day, but for some reason there was light escaping from above the reflectors, somewhat diminishing the overall effect - and as time was running short, decided that I'd not photograph these.

Ashburn Executive Center

However, Ashburn Executive Center, served by this roadway, has been well-done in my humble opinion. This image shows:

The result of shielded parking lot/roadway lights, no 'acorn lights' and, please note especially, the absence of so-called 'Wall Packs' on the building. The buildings in this complex also use lights that are mounted behind soffit, so that most of the light is directed down on the lower façade and walkways.

Ashburn Village Boulevard

For quite a while, I've thought the lighting installation seen during the day along Ashburn Village Boulevard might look really good at night, so I was very pleased to capture the following image.

A few days later, I managed to return during daylight and captured the following:

Here are the poles and lamps in daylight. The poles have nameplates with KW embossed. This is most likely KW Industries.

Close-up of the actual fixtures taken from below. Here you can see the glass lens is recessed so that it is higher than the shield bottom and it is virtually invisible unless one is nearly under the fixture. I'd give this installation really superior marks!

Residential Street With Acorns

Since I needed to park my car on a side street and walk back to get the preceding night shot, I decided to take the following shot of several typical 'Acorn' fixtures in a nice residential neighborhood.

Would you like to live near one of these and have the light that belongs on the ground hammering through your bedroom windows and blinding you when driving your vehicle?

Loudoun Hospital Center

When Loudoun Hospital Center was built, we had noticed the parking lot lighting during daytime and thought it might be quite reasonable at night. Years later, armed with trusty digital camera, I went there and was pleased to see the following:

In my opinion, this is quite good! The lights are fully shielded and the poles are not too tall - shorter poles might have been even better.

Standing in nearly the same place as before, I turned to view the entrance to LHC. Please note the very short - perhaps 10-feet - poles on which the sidewalk lighting is mounted, and the very effective architectural lighting of the entrance - mostly done with up-lighting reflected from the underside of the portico.

I felt very comfortable and safe there, and only wish that every designer would work toward this level of performance.

In Leesburg

Here are a few images from the down-town area in Leesburg.

In this situation, we have fixtures that are cutoff by design, but they have been mounted at angles to project the light unevenly. If the bottoms of the fixtures were parallel to the parking lot surface, glare would be substantially reduced.

A duo of good cutoff fixtures improperly mounted. Same parking lot as above.

One of the area's more thoughtful automobile dealerships, Leesburg Chrysler Dodge, has used fixtures that for the most part focus their light on the premises. There are two 'wall packs' visible on the left side of the building. Perhaps they could be turned off - probably there would still be plenty of light in that area.

This particular lot belonging to Leesburg Chrysler Dodge has been illuminated with fairly small round cutoff fixtures for many years, and I often thought it would be interesting to try to capture this at night. My camera was in the 'scene' mode, and it gives the impression that it was nearly daylight there. Actually, the light is not that bright - it seems just right for storage and security, while display lots are more brightly illuminated.

The multi-story parking lot of Loudoun County Government Building in downtown Leesburg. Somehow, this seems to cry out for modification. There are very bright lights mounted along the structure's sides as well, and It's difficult to make out what purpose they serve. If we could arrange to have this carefully modified, it would make a wonderful 'before and after' sequence.

Close-up of identical lights on the Government Building.

Public Schools Near Leesburg

Evergreen Mill Elementary School, on Evergreen Mill Road (Route 621) about a Mile South of Route 15. Parking lot light poles are fairly tall, fixtures are cutoff. Why couldn't we turn off the 'wall packs' on the building façade?

Heritage High School, about half-mile further South on Evergreen Mill Road. Instead of Sodium lamps used at the elementary school, these appear to be metal halide. At any rate, I think they give much better color rendition and I like the results. Here, too, the poles are somewhat tall. There are no 'wall packs' showing in this view. (There are some elsewhere on this building, and I'm going to just ignore them  ;-> )

The lights on fairly short poles near the building could possibly be even better shielded and could be mounted on slightly shorter poles; this might cause more light to be reflected back from the pavement and could indirectly light the façade without such 'hot spots' and glare from the fixtures.

On balance, I like this overall design, and especially the entryway lighting!

Comments, Suggestions?

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