Prize(s) Winners in Religious & Spiritual Site Lighting Design
Lighting Design/Product Company Illumination of City Environment
Lead Designers Masanobu Takeishi, Masako Yanagisawa
Client Hoshino Resorts Inc.
Photo Credits Hoshino Resorts Inc.
Completion Date May 2023
Project Location Nagano, Japan
Entry DescriptionThis tranquil church stands in the midst of a forest in Karuizawa, an area rich in nature. A Architect Kendrick Kellogg designed a structure composed of 19 massive stone arches with sharp, gentle curves and delicate glass that blends into the earth.
After 36 years, the church's lighting fixtures were retrofitted from halogen lamps to dimmable LEDs.These LEDs not only the control of brightness, but also providing 4500K light in daytime under sunshine, 3500K light in cloudy or rainy days, and gradually changing from 3000K to 2700K at dusk to candlelight at night, creating a dynamic space within the chapel that harmonizes with nature.
This church is a popular wedding venue, we prepared 11 scenes using 22 circuits in total just for the chapel, allowing to control the brightness and color of light according to the different stages of a wedding ceremony. A unique color temperature of light is used to illuminate the groom and the bride to emphasize their presence in the large space. The basement serves as a memorial to Kanzo Uchimura, the famous Japanese thinker who introduced architect Kellogg. Glass and stone are the primary materials, and lighting is kept to a minimum to highlight the stoicism of Uchimura's non-church philosophy.
Sustainability ApproachInside the chapel, 16 spots illuminate the dynamic texture of the structure without making the presence of the fixtures felt. In addition, four large spots with a narrow 10°angle lights distribution are placed at the top of the arch at a height of 8 m to illuminate the altar and the pews. The evening wedding ceremony will be held by candlelight. The lighting is kept as dark as possible, and the flames of the candles attached to the pews and the stone walls change the appearance of the chapel. The Stone church project was challenge to maximize the effect by minimum number of light fixtures in a dynamic church building.
