The most common types of exterior lighting are:
- Pole lights
- Bollards
- Handrail lighting
- Floodlights
Pole lights are the most common type of lighting and are used for a variety of applications. Local parks, car parks, roadways, will all typically use this kind of lighting. Due to their height, pole lights are suitable to distribute light to large areas, if placed correctly. As you can see in the image below, hidden by the tree is a pole light for a car park. The light in the car park is illuminating the tree instead of the car park. Pole lighting should be placed in a suitable location where no trees can grow and not allow the light to do its job.
Bollards are ideal for smaller areas such as gardens & short paths where a low level of light is required for safe movement or to provide some accent lighting to a garden bed. Bollards illuminate pathways effectively and reduce the amount of glare and spill lighting from impacting people and the environment. At MB Memorial Gardens in Sunshine, 3m bollards have been fitted around the parameter of the pathway to illuminate the space and to provide some accent lighting to the garden bed.
Another option is to insert small LED lights into handrails. The best locations for these fittings are in stairways or pathways where handrails are present. At the Valley Lake lookout in Keilor East, small LED lights have been inserted to the handrails throughout the boardwalk. The handrail lighting has been installed to illuminate the pathway for the general public and reduce light spill on the flora & fauna surrounding the boardwalk.
Applications such as sports fields & worksites will generally use floodlights to ensure the area is suitably illuminated to undertake the relevant activity. The floodlights at Queenscliff Sports and Recreation Precinct allow clubs to play at any time of day and still maintaining the night sky by reducing the spill light from these fittings. There are strict guidelines laid out in the Australian standards regarding suitable levels of light for different activities and floodlights are ideal due to the wide range of outputs and beam control they offer.
Lighting & Electrical Distributors have worked on many projects with exterior lighting and have the lighting tools to help select the best exterior lighting for your project.
For assistance with your design & to ensure you are selecting suitable luminaires, contact our office and our trained staff will be happy to help you.
