The urban design code as a tool for creating a favorable urban environment

Design code of the city as a tool for forming a favorable urban environment. Specialists from the lighting company Svet Expert will talk about how urban rebranding affects the emotional state of residents and how outdoor and architectural lighting is related to the design code of cities.

The concept of ‘urban design code’ officially appeared in Russia in 2014, when the Artemy Lebedev Studio, by order of Moskomarkhitektura, together with GlavAPU, developed a document that reflected recommendations and conceptual rules for the placement of advertising and information structures in the historic center of Moscow. What can be achieved with the help of urban design code? This set of rules allows achieving the integrity of the architectural perception of the city, forms its appearance, makes the streets and buildings ‘clean’, arranges in a single style and concept, which naturally affects the psychoemotional state of residents and guests of this city. A number of specialists are responsible for creating a collection of aesthetic rules for urban perception: urban engineers specializing in creating a comfortable living environment, architects and designers who detail each building, each object, urbanists and urban planners responsible for analyzing the city’s construction development and for urban planning in general. Of course, such a large-scale project for creating not only a comfortable but also a safe urban environment cannot do without specialists in the field of lighting engineering and lighting design. This article will tell you about the main task and role of lighting in the Design Code project and what current projects your company is currently working on.

“When we were first invited to participate in the creation of the Design Code for one of our country’s cities, we encountered an information shortage of rules and regulations related to our section: the section of outdoor and facade lighting. - the press service of Svet Expert said. - Indeed, the general standards applied to the design of street spaces are only being formed. And the very creation of the Design Code implies the modern writing and compilation of design solutions and principles for the improvement of the city rather than the use of existing materials. In other words, we do not develop the lighting section based on generally accepted and available rules and norms, but we establish the framework that streamlines the visual appearance of neighborhoods and streets. The team of urban rebranding specialists needs to do complex and painstaking work. To create aesthetic regulations, it is necessary to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the city you literally need to live there. We study the history and culture, the identity of this part of Russia, identify the main problems for ourselves and the stages of their solution. The main issue is the disunity and untidiness of urban spaces: we often see elements of modern additions, which are self-willed in nature, inappropriate decoration, multi-colored signs and advertisements on the facades of historical objects and monuments - all of this requires registration and order within the project of creating the Design Code. The main feature of our work is that, despite our authorship and the possibility of creative expression, we are constrained by the framework of our predecessors who carried out the first stages of this huge album. If the research and analytics showed that the only correct concept of the city will be the idea of minimalism, then no matter how we wish to highlight the dominant accents with light and dynamically program the bridges, we are forced to develop a design solution within the framework of minimal delicate lighting, static and monochrome, calm and delicate, fitting into the overall texture of a holistic, “clean”, updated city.”

“The design code is not just recommendations for signs and advertisements - it is a whole document on beautification and improvement of the urban landscape, it is an entire urban culture with its structures, entrance groups, historical facades, parks, commercial facilities, road traffic systems, and street navigation. The set of rules for designing the city can be divided into two components: the daytime appearance and the evening view of the space under study. Coloristic recommendations, road signs, commercial signs - all these are elements of the daytime visual perception of the city plan. Our section of outdoor and architectural and art lighting refers to the evening shaping appearance. When developing rules and standards for urban lighting, we take into account not only the visual appearance of the future night picture, but also technical requirements and parameters: location on the facade and extensions, placement relative to the entrance part and advertising structures, form factors and dimensions of light engineering, glow color, and recommendations for power supply. This is an interesting experience of coexistence and interaction between two artists, one of whom creates a new look for the daytime city, while for the second, the main beauty is revealed only at night. But the joint work and professional designer vision allow us to take into account all the components, to display in the final project all the elements and sections necessary for the complete, complete transformation of not only the daytime, but also the nighttime urban space”.