Orthodox Cathedral in Aiud
This cathedral was located in the centre of Aiud, Romania, southeast of the city. The local administration wanted to implement this project with the aim of highlighting the architecture through the use of sustainable lighting fixtures fitted with LED technology. The lighting simulations were carried out in 2021, within the same project as the Roman Catholic Church “St. Elizabeth of Hungary” in the Council of Europe Aiud Square. The two churches are located in the historically protected area of the municipality of Aiud.
Galaxy 10 1m
Galaxy 4
Galaxy 8
Architecture
From an architectural point of view, the cathedral is part of the Byzantine style, being inspired by Saint Sophia in Constantinople.
The church is considered a first-category work, having a cross-shaped plan, arranged according to the SN axis, with a footprint of 640 square meters.
Architectural Lighting for the Orthodox Cathedral in Aiud
The local community wanted to improve the lighting of the Orthodox Cathedral. This meant replacing the current system with LED lighting fixtures, which are much more efficient and qualitative in terms of light effect.
Visioluce suggested a totally different concept than the previous one. Previously, the building was uniformly lit with floodlight projectors. This time we wanted to emphasize the architecture of the building using mainly accent lighting.
The light’s warm temperature of 3000K is reflected in the building’s finishes. This reflection makes it appear to have a slightly golden tint. This finish is recurrent in the architecture of Christian Orthodox churches.
Lighting fixtured used for lighting the Cathedral.
More than 400 lighting fixtures were used to achieve the desired effect for the architectural lighting of the Orthodox Cathedral. The fixtures from the Linea series are positioned starting from the area of the steps and on various edges of the walls to create the effect of wall grazing. The walls next to the stairs are made of stone, and this way of lighting I chose brings out the texture. Linea was also used to illuminate the central fresco. Luminaires from the Galaxy and Helios series were also used for this project. Galaxy fixtures with narrow distribution were used to highlight the tall towers, vertical planes and ornamental window details. This was not the only photometric curve used. Lighting fixtures with photometry were also positioned: medium, wide or in various forms of asymmetry.