Last week’s blog post discussed the core principles of formal landscape design. To create an outdoor landscape lighting design that will complement an outdoor space with a formal design, you will need to learn about its components.
As promised, this week’s blog post will discuss focal points found in a formal landscape design and how you can illuminate them using the proper lighting techniques that will give your clients their dream outdoor space.
Lighting to Support the Formal Aesthetic
Outdoor landscape lighting can really shine a light on the beauty of formal landscape design at night. Keep in mind these formal landscape design aesthetics when setting up an outdoor landscape lighting system. It will help create a lighting design that is complementary and functional.
● Maintaining a Clean Look: Make sure to keep the number of outdoor light fixtures to a minimum.
● Careful Placement: Find places to install outdoor light fixtures that will make them easier to conceal or blend seamlessly into the surrounding environment. This will help preserve the clean, crisp look.
● Warm Lighting: Lights that are on the warmer side of the color temperature scale, around 2700K, can really enhance the stone and greenery without being too harsh.
● Zone Control: Breaking up outdoor spaces into independent zones can make it easier to highlight focal points at night while also keeping the symmetry subtle and elegant.
Focal Features That Shape a Formal Landscape Design Aesthetic
A formal landscape design incorporates many features that can be customized to truly make an outdoor space beautiful. Let’s take a look at some of the focal points you would find in a formal landscape design and how to best light them.
Statues, Fountains, or Sculptural Plants
Tall structural features like trees, statues, or fountains are great for creating visual anchors. They will make the outdoor space stand out by drawing people’s attention to it. They can even be destinations within the outdoor space that people can gravitate toward.
You can use up lights with narrow beam angles to illuminate these features. Lighting them this way will create drama and interesting shadows to further enhance the look of the outdoor space.
Pathways and Axes
Outdoor spaces that follow a formal landscape design have a strong central axis that usually complements the home’s architecture. This axis is usually well-defined and serves as the jumping-off point for other pathways and plantings around the space.
This can look like straight paths leading to focal points with the same plants on both sides of a pathway or identical garden beds. A limited material palette, such as stone patios for outdoor seating areas or gravel for pathways, is another feature of formal landscape designs.
Path lights that are evenly spaced along pathways can guide people through the space and reinforce the strong linear structure.
Containers and Entry Framing
To enhance curb appeal and blend garden elements with the home, structured greenery is used to frame windows and doorways. Some ideas for this method include:
● Planting pyramidal evergreens or columnar shrubs alongside windows
● Adding statement planters with clipped topiaries at doorways or entryways
● Lining pathways with neatly pruned hedges or rows of flowers
This type of focal point will strengthen the visual connection between the home and the landscape and also reinforce the garden’s organized, formal design.
You can use uplights, flood lights, or wall lights to highlight the greenery and bring it to life at night.
Create Timeless Formal Garden Lighting with LightCh8in
A formal design for an outdoor space can elicit feelings of wonder and grandeur. Incorporating outdoor landscape lighting in the right way will enhance the beauty of a formal landscape design even at night.
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