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CASE STUDY
LIGHTING THE OAK
These Iconic Trees are the Perfect Canvas for a Lighting Design
B
rooke Inzerella, CEO of Horticare Landscape Company in Lafayette, Louisiana, has put in lighting for many live oak (Quercus virginiana) trees in his 16 years of business. However, when asked how to properly illuminate these majestic 40 to 100-plusyear-old trees, he says, “I’d be interested in
First, it’s best to consider the entire scope:
seeing how a true lighting designer would suggest to do it.” These complex trees are a great example of how to think about lighting mathematically and get the most out of one dominant feature in a landscape. Jon Bowman and Adam Dorumad of Coastal Source stepped in to light the way.
OAK TREE BEFORE LIGHTING INSTALL
1. How do you want to view the tree? 360 degrees? Just from the street or all around the tree? 2. Do you have other lighting that will be different temperatures and need to mindful of? 3. Do you have other lighting to put in later that we have to consider? 4. Are there other lighting objectives like lighting the path to the front door? 5. How does street lighting affect the lighting that we are designing? 6. How will it be controlled? Dusk to dawn, timers, switches and where to tie in? 7. When was the tree pruned last? Should this be done prior to design and installation? Determine if pruning the tree will result in a better light throw. 8. Does the tree have interesting bark that warrents highlighting? Identifying what the client wants and how they want to interact with the lighting can steer the design in different ways. Also, evaluating the tree (or other element)
60 SYNKD South Winter 2023/24
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