City Lights Winterthur

The city council of Winterthur (CH) had the aim to make the qualities of the city more enjoyable during the night time. For this purpose, a master lighting plan City Lights Winterthur (Stadtlicht Winterthur) was commissioned. In order to realise the entire project with optimal results, an open competition for pilot projects for subsections of the city was created.

The light planners from studio nachtaktiv in cooperation with Drexler Guinand Jauslin Architects won the project KULTURACHSE. The Kulturachse (culture-axis) spans across the historical buildings of the Stadthausstrasse and the City Garden of Winterthur.

Historical buildings along the Stadthausstrasse are now being illuminated in a fashion that brings out the special character of each building. Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on the spatial relationship between the buildings. This enables an authentic experience of the nightly city space.

The precise guidance of light, which enables such a differentiated building illumination, is only made possible by the use of LED-Streetlights. Unnecessarily scattered lights and glare is prevented and the polychrome facades and shop windows are illuminated and appear in a natural light.

By replacing the street lighting in the Stadthausstrasse with modern hanging LED-Lights, the energy consumption of the additional lighting, for the City Lights project Kulturachse, was more than compensated for.

Architektur: Drexler Guinand Jauslin Architekten
Lichtplanung: Studio Nachtaktiv