20 Mar 2006
Throwing light on a grave situation
The Old Graveyard in the Swedish city of Malmö is the first in the country to feature an architectural lighting scheme.
The scheme was the original idea of Malte Sahlgren,. Located right in the centre of town, the Old Graveyard was first consecrated in 1822. Its East-West running avenue connects the key areas of Gustav Adolfs Square and Kings Park, and it also houses the remains of some of the city's most famous citizens.
The scheme was the idea of Malte Sahlgren, the Swedish Church's manager of Malmo's 18 graveyards. After initial discussions between him and both Malmo City Council's lighting designer Johan Moritz, and Spectra Stage & Event Technologies' Bertil Göransson, Göransson and Moritz created the design, and Spectra realised the project, supplied the equipment and oversaw and commissioned the installation.
Challenges involved the design having to be extremely tasteful, reflective and subtle. However it also had to be utilitarian, and make the space lighter and more inviting to walk through or sit in after dark. Several different options were discussed, some of them seasonal, from which Sahlgren chose the final scheme.
The only vertical elements in the graveyard apart from the graves - which couldn't be lit - were the trees. so it was decided to light key elements of the mature oak, ash and beech trees lining the main pathways to give vertical form and structure to the installation.
Fifty-four trees were selected to be up-lit in the first phase, all of them lining the East-West route, and this was achieved using IP67 rated Bega 8089 in-ground fixtures with a swivel-mounted rotatable optic for focussing. Moritz also wanted the trees to act as reflectors and he and Göransson tested several different fixtures in situ before deciding that these were the right ones.
The fixtures are loaded with 35W CDM long life lightsources with a colour temperature of 3000 degrees Kelvin. These were also chosen because of their quality build, their robustness, ability to withstand extreme temperatures in the winter, and their shallow 120mm mounting depth. It was vital to have minimal impact on the tree roots once installed.
At the centre of the graveyard is a small roundabout, with four fur trees, and this is also lit with Bega fixtures, this time an MR16 type 8016 in-ground fixture in the same series, complete with long life halogen lightsources.
The cemetery also has a 40m spherical memorial area bordered by a short copper birch hedge, where people lay candles and floral tributes. Wanting to retain candlelight as the primary after-dark lightsource, Moritz accentuated the circular form by outlining it with a softly glowing ring of light.
This was created using a continuous length of standard, weatherised, long-life white rope light embedded in a special trough, made from quick rusting steel, which was designed and fabricated by Spectra. The mini hedge glows in a soft orangey tint while five large trees in the area are each illuminated with either one or two Bega 8089s.
All the fixtures are linked to a dusk/dawn triggered lighting controller that turns them on and off.
There were also other logistics - like cable laying and the digging up of consecrated ground - which had to be contended with, the latter being undertaken by the church's own team of gravediggers.
The lighting installation itself was completed by electrical contractors overseen by Göransson and the Spectra team, who commissioned the installation once it was finished.
Phase two of lighting the Old Graveyard will be the illumination of the North-South pathway. Spectra's Gothenburg office has subsequently also been asked to look at a local burial ground lighting project.
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