Prize(s) Winners in Landscape Lighting
Lighting Design/Product Company Dark Source
Lead Designers Kerem Asfuroglu
Client Snowdonia National Park Authority & Prosiect NOS
Photo Credits Dylan Parry Evans, Karl Midlane, Dani Robertson
Completion Date 03.30.2022
Project Location Snowdonia, North Wales, UK
Entry DescriptionLocated in the lush heart of Snowdonia, Plas Y Brenin is a vibrant national outdoor centre that attracts thousands of international visitors every year. The site has been suffering from a significant level of light pollution visible for miles, causing several issues for itself and the surrounding biodiversity.
The lighting design was developed in order to restore the dark skies and tackle the growing concern for the region known as a Dark Sky Reserve since 2015. The project was conceived with an environmental ethos, aiming to reduce energy waste & impact on biodiversity whilst exploring further opportunities to enhance the night-time experience. Warm-coloured, glare-free, low-intensity lighting was utilised in order to meet dark sky-friendly measures, along with high energy efficiency & lamp-life criteria to maximise the savings.
All luminaires were made low-level & face downwards to keep the light on the horizontal plane and prevent upwards travelling light.
Bats have been observed to return to the site to forage. The project ensured a core area of the dark sky reserve is further enhanced and protected. The energy usage was reduced by 1.9 tonnes of CO2e (8,000kW) annually.
