Project Name: Smithfield Street
Practice Name: Place Design Group
Project Address: Smithfield Street, Gympie
Demonstrate that a professional lighting design was undertaken for this project?
The Smithfield Street Revitalisation project incorporated lighting as a key element to enhance the ambiance, appeal and usage of the street. Place Design Group worked with lighting consultant Webb Australia Group to ensure the lighting tied in to the design concept to reflect the history of the Gympie Region. More specifically, the lighting was originally designed to reflect the outline of the Smithfield Reef which the street was named after, however due to practicalities this was not entirely possible.
What was the main design objective for the lighting scheme?
The lighting design included multiple elements including AS/NZS 1158.3 compliance to suit the designated “public activity area” classification. Decorative lighting has been incorporated across all dimensions of the street, into pavements, bollards and street furniture, catenary poles and in raised retaining wall screening elements. There are uplights around the Alchemy Sculptures and under the street trees to the silhouette lighting of the bollards, posts, river of gold walls and seats right up to the interconnecting catenary lighting with the incorporated circular road lights. The use of dynamic, colour changing lighting with scene/show based control elements, ensures the precinct is awash with ever changing shades of colour.
Demonstrate how lighting complements the design of the space by day?
By day, the lighting components are not obtrusive amongst the regular landscape elements. The catenary lighting wire is ever-present overhead however it does not stand out when walking along the street as there is so much detail at eye level that the catenary lights are not readily noticeable until turned on.
Showcase how lighting enhances the use and experience of the space after dark?
Innovative lighting plays a key role in enhancing the ambience and safety, so locals and visitors can enjoy Smithfield Street after dark. Utilising the lighting from an events perspective, the monthly Gourmet and Grooves on Smithfield have been a huge success to revitalising the city centre. The vibrancy of the lighting design and use of colour elements draws visitors to the space, enhances the overall visual amenity and has helped to revitalise an otherwise “common” urban roadway.
Highlight lighting creativity, problem-solving and thinking-outside-the-box?
Lighting was a key element of the design of Smithfield Street’s revitalisation, creatively used to enhance the space. The lighting is particularly effective for events activating the street; the road lights are incorporated in the catenary lighting; the lighting of the pavement is contributed to from the bollards and existing shop lighting.
A key challenge was to balance the need for vibrancy and colour without having lighting elements become physically obtrusive in the space. This was achieved by incorporating “hidden” lighting elements within decorative structures such as bollards, street furniture, screening walls, and catenary poles. This created a clean, unobtrusive look through the day, with vibrant washes of colour at night.
How did you take Dark Sky considerations (prevention of lighting pollution) into account for this project?
The design team resisted reliance on uplighting as the primary source of feature lighting. Instead, the design focused on backlighting (bollards, furniture and poles) to create coloured ambience with minimal spill light. Enhancement of softscape elements (ie. trees) was achieved via adjustable projector luminaires mounted to catenary poles helping reduce upward waste and spill light. Lighting control systems also provide unlimited customisation of scenes/shows to adjust from a vibrant “bright” space, to a muted “restrained” atmosphere.
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