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Lighting Master Plan for Vienna

The nocturnal outlook of a city can convey a great variety of information as well as creating a wealth of moods. Contrary to daylight, which is the same everywhere, artistic illumination concepts shape and define the nocturnal identity of a city, whose cultural self-image can be rendered visible at night by deliberately emphasising unique or characteristic traits.

The Lighting Master Plan for Vienna is a comprehensive illumination concept for the urban space in its entirety and stipulates certain technical and aesthetic guidelines. The Master Plan was developed according to political, artistic, historical and technical viewpoints and is to provide a solid base for the long-term co-ordination of future planning for the benefit of the cityscape as a whole.

The Lighting Master Plan for Vienna was developed co-operatively by the Municipal Departments MA 33 (Public Lighting), MA 19 (Architecture and Urban Design), the VCE Consult ZT GmbH studio and podpod design as illumination planners.

grafic © podpod design

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Public illumination in Vienna

The magistral department MA33- is responsible for the planning and maintenance of the public light in Vienna. This department runs about 150.000 lighting-points and 230 public projections machineries.

Photo © MA 33 / Stadt Wien

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The implementation of the Lighting Master Plan is based on the following criteria:

• Traffic safety and protection against assaults

• Gender mainstreaming

• Environmental protection

• Urban structural elements and their treatment

• Basic lighting and light effects

• Illumination technology concept

• Cost effectiveness & energy consumption

Photo © MA 33 (Public Lighting)

Masterplan_Licht_Wien_Master_lighting_plan_podpod

Municipal districts

Each district was analysed for its specificities and urban structural elements, taking account of the following criteria:

• Topography

• Movement lines

• Hubs

• Identity-creating zones

• Identifying landmarks

• Green and leisure zones

Visualisation © podpod design

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Light Pollution

Concerning public illumination it´s important to regard that as less light as possible goes above the horizon into the nightly sky. This serves the avoiding of light pollution, which would disturb the fauna and causes too much energy. Nevertheless its necessary in the inner city to have façade illumination for a nice light impression of the whole city.

halbzylindrische_Beleuchtungsstärke_podpod_design

To see and to be seen

The half cylindrical illumination is the precondition for recognizing accommodating persons. On parking places, measured in 1,5 meters hight, there has to be a minimum of 1,5 lux. This guideline is very important for lighting systems with a high frequency of pedestrians to insure security.

Luminaire package for Vienna

The luminaire package was compiled co-operatively by the Municipal Departments MA 33 (Public Lighting), MA 19 (Architecture and Urban Design), the VCE Consult engineering studio and podpod design as illumination planners. It comprises a full catalogue of all illumination elements to be used in Vienna that meet the necessary prerequisites for public lighting. All luminaires and fixtures were subjected to in-depth testing for maintenance friendliness, illumination technology and design.

Users can draw upon the package as a practical design tool and support in choosing the right luminaire for a specific site. The standard package will be reviewed every three years and is open to further development regarding both design and technology. The core user group of the package includes municipal planning departments as well as external planning studios and politicians commissioning such projects.

First edition published in 2008