Nagano, Japan by Illumination of City Environment
This tranquil church stands amid a forest in Karuizawa, an area rich in nature. Architect Kendrick Kellogg designed a structure composed of 19 massive stone arches with sharp, gentle curves and delicate glass that blends into the earth.
After 36 years, the church’s lighting fixtures were retrofitted from halogen lamps to dimmable LEDs.These LEDs not only control brightness, but also provide 4500K light in the daytime under sunshine, 3500K light on cloudy or rainy days, and gradually change from 3000K to 2700K at dusk to candlelight at night, creating a dynamic space within the chapel that harmonizes with nature.
This church is a popular wedding venue, we prepared 11 scenes using 22 circuits in total just for the chapel, allowing us to control the brightness and color of light according to the different stages of a wedding ceremony. A unique color temperature of light is used to illuminate the groom and the bride to emphasize their presence in the large space. The basement serves as a memorial to Kanzo Uchimura, the famous Japanese thinker who introduced architect Kellogg. Glass and stone are the primary materials, and lighting is kept to a minimum to highlight the stoicism of Uchimura’s non-church philosophy.
Inside the chapel, 16 spots illuminate the dynamic texture of the structure without making the presence of the fixtures felt. In addition, four large spots with a narrow 10°angle light distribution are placed at the top of the arch at a height of 8 m to illuminate the altar and the pews. The evening wedding ceremony will be held by candlelight. The lighting is kept as dark as possible, and the flames of the candles attached to the pews and the stone walls change the appearance of the chapel. The Stone Church project was challenged to maximize the effect by a minimum number of light fixtures in a dynamic church building.
