The Image of a Contemporary City: How do Light and Colour Help Create an Appealing Environment?
The question of how to use light and colour to create an appealing urban environment will be discussed by round-table participants during the Russian Energy Week International Forum, which will be held from 3 to 6 October in Moscow. The event will be held as part of the Moscow city session on ‘Constructing comfort’.
The starting point for the discussion will be Moscow's experience in implementing a vision for a unified colour and lighting environment, which is able to accommodate both artistic expression and visual harmony, and thanks to which the Russian capital has been rated one of the top five cities in the world in terms of lighting. The key to this concept is the ability to connect and harmoniously adopting a variety of different kinds of lighting (architectural, landscape, decorative etc).
It is agreed that high-quality outdoor lighting in urban environments is not only a vital part of ensuring residents and visitors have an appealing environment, it also has a safety function. Architectural and artistic lighting help boost tourist flows – thus helping increase revenue generated by tourism. In addition, the adoption of modern technologies makes it possible to attain higher levels of lighting without increasing municipal energy usage.
The round table ‘Lighting and colour in the urban environment: security, aesthetics, and energy efficiency’ will be moderated by Deputy Director of Mossvet Alexander Bukatov, who will talk about the qualitatively new approach to creating a lighting and colour environment taken in Moscow in recent years.
"It is difficult to overestimate the impact that artificial lighting has on life in a city. The list of issues that can be addressed by artificial lighting go far beyond its primary utilitarian function. Artificial light is a central element in urban development, and in many cases the creation of images using light, organizing a series of light spaces throughout a city also involves a creative element," Alexander Bukatov said. "Today we can talk about having entered a new phase of development for all elements of artificial lighting, of creating an urban light-scape, which is based on quality, economics, and aesthetics."
During the discussion, the participants, which will include representatives of the companies Mossvet and United Energy Company will be joined by people representing companies that design lighting systems and produce technical lighting equipment – iPro, Svetoproekt, Signify, and representatives of the Main Architectural and Design Directorate at the Moscow Architecture Committee will discuss possible standards and KPIs for lighting in Russian cities, prospects for the further development of the production base within Russia for urban lighting, and systems of managing lighting.
