Acropolis Southern Wall, Athens

Head lighting designer, she tells us the story from the beginning: "This project was so much different from every other project. The whole process was a multidimensional journey for us. From the first visits onsite, we felt that we had to leave aside our existing knowledge and experience as lighting designers and first focus on ‘listening’ to the monument. It was as if we were listening to our ancestors, re-reading our history, baptized in our Ancient Greek culture. It was the greatest honour and responsibility!

I spent many hours observing the monuments during the different phases of the day. In the morning, at noon, when the light is harsher, at dusk while the sun sets, under the moon and in complete darkness. Just try to imagine the reflections of stone and marble sculptures in the above versions of natural light... That observation was the guide and the teacher. Of course, I had to see the Acropolis as part of the city and its coexistence in today's urban landscape. We were frequently walking away from the site for a while, to see Acropolis from far away from different neighborhoods. Acropolis and the Parthenon, are visible from many points of the city, some closer and some further away. As long as you stay on the hill, you are overwhelmed by the feeling of admiration and awe for the Acropolis itself! As you move away, you realize its gradations: the rock, the walls, and the monuments. From those observations, I realized that the three elements, needed to be differentiated. Each bears the symbolism of its time and that inspired us to create those lighting layers through color temperature and intensity differentiations.

Moreover, for the monuments we wanted to accentuate the 3Dimensionality of the sculptures and columns to highlight all the details of them and create depth of field to make the different volumes distinct from far away. The different shades of white on the various materials were the beginning of our research. We did many tests to achieve the most appropriate shade of white for the Parthenon, the temple of Athena Nike, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion, and the other 13 monuments to…reflect their true own light!”.

Because of its geomorphology, the Acropolis has been considered as a refuge since prehistoric times, and therefore surrounded by fortification walls built along the top of the hill in different historic periods. After the departure of the Persians, both the city of Athens and the Acropolis were given new walls, the northern wall, or Themistoclean and the southern wall, or Kimonean, which was erected in 467 BC.

According to the lighting concept developed by Eleftheria Deko studio, the illumination of the southern wall had to be discreet and soft, with blurred upper edges to create an understated background to the above standing Parthenon. A 3000K warm white colour temperature should serve as a solid but tempered basis for the striking illumination of the Parthenon that should stand out like a prima donna.

Mrs Deko further explains: "From a technical perspective, the new lighting scheme required a customized type of luminaire with a maximum enhancement of luminosity and tunable white light from 2700K to 5000K. We used 12 slightly different and harmonious shades of white for the monuments and the installed DMX control made possible to control each luminaire independently in terms of intensity and color temperature. The specified high CRI of the fixtures, created the optimum illumination to highlight the color and texture of the Pentelikon marble and the stone.”

Featuring a powerful luminous flux with real uniform coverage for impressive wall grazing enhancement especially on large-scale architectural elements, our PARADE L-4 linear bars with elliptical wide optics were installed at the base of the southern wall to deliver a diffused 3000K warm white light on its texturized surface. The fixtures were delivered in a custom finish, a matt stone grey that perfectly matches the wall colour. Featuring a powerful luminous flux with real uniform coverage for impressive wall grazing enhancement especially on large-scale architectural elements, our PARADE L-4 linear bars with elliptical wide optics were installed at the base of the southern wall to deliver a diffused 3000K warm white light on its texturized surface. The fixtures were delivered in a custom finish, a matt stone grey that perfectly matches the wall colour.

Universal symbol of the classical art and culture, the Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are among the most important and recognizable landmarks in the world. We are very proud to have contributed to this amazing lighting project and would like to thank once again Eleftheria Deko and her team for choosing our lighting fixtures.

Credits:
Project Acropolis of Athens and Monuments
Location Athens, Greece
Lighting Design Eleftheria Deko and Associates, Greece
Client Onassis Foundation, Greek Ministry of Culture
Installation Gravani Lighting
Pictures Gavriil Papadiotis, archive of Eleftheria Deko