Client Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral | Surveyor Freeland Rees Roberts Architects |
Systems Integrator / Project Manager Light Perceptions | Electrical Engineer Eng Design |
Contractor EV Bullen | Photographer James Newton |
Project Team Mark Major, Philip Rose | |
The 900-year-old Norwich Cathedral is justly famous for its architecture, and remains an important seat of worship and part of the local community. Following our appointment in 2012, we have created a new, sustainable, interior lighting system to support the liturgy and provide flexibility for various cultural activities and tourism, while reducing the energy load. Our sensitive yet rigorous approach has delivered a richly nuanced scheme with minimal impact on the building fabric. The clergy and the local community have fully embraced the new lighting scheme, using it daily to adapt the spaces to their needs.
Our scope included re-lighting all the interior areas of the Cathedral, including six chapels, two ancillary rooms and the historic library.
Consideration for the spiritual aspects of the building forms the foundation of our approach. A flexible background level of light facilitates everyday activities, layered with highlights that provide focus on the key liturgical elements and objects of religious and cultural significance. At each entrance and change of level, carefully managed light levels ensure easy access and improved safety for people of all abilities. A further layer details the infrastructure required for concerts and community events.Consideration for the spiritual aspects of the building forms the foundation of our approach. A flexible background level of light facilitates everyday activities, layered with highlights that provide focus on the key liturgical elements and objects of religious and cultural significance. At each entrance and change of level, carefully managed light levels ensure easy access and improved safety for people of all abilities. A further layer details the infrastructure required for concerts and community events.
Norwich is a prime example of Romanesque architecture, in which daylight penetrates at every level to reveal the soaring volumes and define the experience of the building. Our design supports an un-self-conscious expression of these volumes, aiming to preserve the spirit of the Cathedral as it appeared for centuries, both by day and after dark. Soft uplighting highlights the sculptural forms of the ceilings and important features, including the historically significant ornate carved bosses at the intersections of the ribs. We were successful in our petition to have previously installed guarding at the Triforium level removed, allowing the pure simplicity of the architecture to be re-envisaged.
Each lighting effect is individually controlled and dimmable from 0% to 100% brightness. This fine level of control enables the client to shift the focus of worship around the building, creating different atmospheres that suit the many uses of the various spaces. The all-LED design has generated significant savings in energy and maintenance in comparison to the previous tungsten-halogen scheme. It has also reduced UV emissions, helping to protect and preserve the sensitive painted medieval artworks and artefacts.
An immensely complex undertaking, it was necessary to deliver the project in phases that allowed the Cathedral to remain operational at all times. As well as lighting, we undertook the rationalisation and replacement of the electrical infrastructure, including hand-painting the new cabling in a trompe l’oeil effect, to blend it into the building fabric.
To deliver the many layers of light with minimal impact to the building fabric, we designed a series of simple, multi-purpose details, honed through multiple tests and mock-ups. A bespoke modular track system sits within the fluted profile of the columns. This provides the flexibility to locate and direct light where needed while limiting the number of physical connections, minimising damage to the stonework. Mounted on the eastern face of the columns, the tracks are completely hidden from view in the primary viewing positions. For the Quire, we created a bespoke stall-mounted luminaire: a modern interpretation of a candle, it improves conditions for reading music while creating a soft sparkle reminiscent of a flame.