Strolling under a new light

Lots of charm and historical substance, just a few kilometres from the Mecklenburg Baltic coast: this mix attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to Bad Doberan every year and offers the residents a high quality of life. Well-maintained facilities such as the “Kamp”, a park in the centre of the spa town, also contribute to this. Here, the new lighting with imaginative planning and smart technology from WE-EF creates atmosphere and a high quality of stay.

Bad Doberan’s past as a summer resort is palpable with every step you take on the Kamp under the trees, some of which are 200 years old: you don’t just go for a walk here, the nostalgic word “stroll” seems more appropriate. The most representative buildings in the city are located in the area surrounding the triangular grounds. The Red and White Pavilions in the park, two carefully restored buildings with pagoda roofs supported by graceful columns, date back to the early 19th century. In recent years, the buildings, paths and trees have been renovated and made barrier-free in line with conservation requirements. The latest milestone: the new lighting, was designed by lighting designer Prof. Dr Thomas Römhild, a proven expert and technically implemented by WE-EF as partner.

Individualised light for a special place

“The Kamp has always been a special place for me,” says Thomas Römhild, describing his approach: “Based on its history and current significance, it was clear to me that the Kamp should be designed as a festival square. But because not every day is a festival day, the Kamp can also be the ‘parlour’ that invites you to linger into the evening hours.” His concept: discreet lighting that keeps the technology in the background. Mighty trees and the pavilions organise the Kamp. In order not to disturb this image, the lighting designer arranged only a few luminaires in the inner area. At the entrances, he placed pole-mounted luminaires that create a transition zone by specifically illuminating the paths with spotlights, allowing the eye to adapt from the bright street lighting to the lower lighting level of the park. Bollard luminaires concealed under the benches and the illumination of the pavilions and their surroundings make it possible to cross the Kamp safely. The luminaires on the periphery of the Kamp are cylindrical luminaires arranged like lanterns, equipped with multicoloured LED modules and supplemented by a street lighting component. And in part of the avenue of lime trees around the Kamp, pendant luminaires on cables continue the lantern motif.

Centrepiece: the cylindrical luminaire

WE-EF supplied the majority of these luminaires – not as standard products from the catalogue, however, but modified in close cooperation with the designer and individually tailored to their respective tasks. The basis and recognisable design element are the transparent cylinders of the ZFT400 luminaire family: they are used in a candelabra configuration as a pole-mounted luminaire, but also as rigidly suspended luminaires under the pavilion roofs and with cable suspension in the lime tree avenues. The lighting of the Kamp thus ties in with neighbouring areas such as Alexandrinenplatz, which has been illuminated with ZFT470 LED pole-mounted luminaires from WE-EF since 2019. The modified proportions of the transparent cylinders have also been adopted: They are slightly higher than in the standard product, so the luminaires provide space to integrate FLC210 projectors for targeted lighting accents.

Flexible partner for customised solutions

Two modifications deserve special mention because they clearly demonstrate how WE-EF works with designers and industry experts to put innovative lighting ideas into practice: Firstly, equipping the pole-mounted luminaires with multi-coloured LED modules. “The choice of colour in these ‘lanterns’ is not arbitrary, but is based on the colours of the sky at sunset,” explains Römhild. The aim: subtle variations depending on the occasion, without losing recognition value through arbitrary colours. The effects are controlled wirelessly via DALI and a supplier’s wireless gateway. The planner emphasises that environmental and resource conservation considerations are not neglected: “Of course, a significant reduction in lighting after 10 p.m. is also planned.”

Secondly: The conversion of the ZFT470 into a pendant luminaire, which was additionally fitted with an inlaid foil to poetically illuminate the Lindenallee. This special foil with perforations is silver on the outside and copper-orange on the inside, a development of the light laboratory at Römhild’s chair at the University of Wismar: “During the day, the cylinders are barely visible due to the reflection; at night, light falls through circular openings onto the path and the trees,” says the lighting designer, describing the effect of these project-specific luminaires.

Common goal: Quality of stay

The two pavilions form islands of light inside the park. ZFT470s are installed as pendant luminaires under the surrounding canopies, supplemented in the white pavilion by the smaller ZFT440s, which are used as surface-mounted luminaires on the ceiling of the roof. The miniaturised FLC201 LED projectors set narrowly focused grazing light accents on architectural details such as the wood carvings on the beam heads or the ridge lines. The pavilions are set apart from each other by the colour temperature of the lighting: warm 2700 K for the Red Pavilion, more neutral 3000 K for the White Pavilion.

Together, the new lighting significantly improves the quality of life in the park. “The Kamp is now noticeably livelier in the evening,” observes Römhild, “and the pendant luminaires in the avenue are particularly appealing to users.” A successful intervention that was only made possible by the close collaboration between a creative planner and WE-EF as a highly flexible technology partner: “WE-EF does not act as a mere supplier, but as a manufacturer that fosters cooperation with all project participants and never loses sight of the common goal,” is the positive summary of the lighting designer.

Project participants

Lighting designer: Prof. Dr Thomas Römhild
Client: City of Bad Doberan
Electrical installation: EMR, Rostock
Landscape architecture: Rehwaldt Landscape Architects, Dresden