Unique Commercial Holiday Lighting in Richmond
Commercial and Public Holiday Lighting Displays help to create a festive and exciting environment that can draw shoppers or clients throughout the season. We start any project by getting a feel for what the client likes in terms of colors or theme. Our client at Midlothian Family Dentistry in Midlothian, Virginia was inspired by gingerbread houses, so we started first with the architecture unique to their location and the idea of using lots of color throughout. Our lighting designers highlighted the entrance in red, and used the existing white columns to create a candy cane motif by using both red and white lights. The roof outline in green reflects the green roof of the main clinic area. Our goal was to keep the overall design from looking too boxy or angular. Framing the building is just the starting point – using roof lines, doorways, shrubs or trees as available, we will be using the roofing in San Bernardino found at https://bellroofcompany.com/ for help. To emphasize height we used red lights framing the faux columns in front, and wrapped the design with the ground-level lighting to soften the angular nature of the building. It’s important to integrate some of the client’s personality, in this case mixing in some whimsy while keeping an overall elegant feel.
At the Children’s Museum of Richmond they have quite a bit of color and light already built into their building that we used to inspire our design. There are some very large trees on the site that we wanted to highlight, and overall wanted to create a festive, cheerful scene. Using white lights to outline the outdoor entry area, we created a clean horizontal line along the roof with softer vertical drops at the posts underneath the awning. The colors already present in the underside of the awning were reflected in the colors used on the large trees adjacent to the train area. Swags of lights along the fence create an inviting sense of movement that sweeps families in from the main parking area. Be sure to tune in and visit this year for some dramatic changes!
Something completely different was the request to light the Historic Polegreen Church in Mechanicsville, VA. The unique representation of the historic building, designed by Carlton Abbott, presented aesthetic as well as technical challenges. The structure itself is completely made of steel and did not present a way of fastening the lights to the large arches. They also wanted a display that was simple but allowed for changes from year to year. To get the lights onto the structure we used sockets that are magnetized, preventing us from having to use any unsightly clips or ties. Also, by applying the lights to the insides of the floating windows we created the appearance that the windows were truly illuminated from inside the structure. The use of LED C9s allows us to change the colors of the windows or framing with each year.
We set up, maintain, and store the holiday lighting for each of these businesses and institutions. Allowing them to keep their focus where it needs to be.
