The council have been installing new architectural lighting in the underpass at the top of Trafalgar Street.
What they should have done is use mostly soft white/off-white lighting to illuminate the impressive ironwork struts and arches, with perhaps a single colour to pick out either the brickwork niches on the south side, or the archways on the north (the ones that haven’t been boarded up and ruined, that is). The lighting units themselves should’ve been hidden within the supports.
That’s how architectural lighting should be: subtle, to highlight the interest and beauty of the structure, and in this particular place they could’ve added real warmth and character to one of the entrances to our city.
Instead, what they’ve done is install cheap, tawdry and multi-changing coloured LED strip lights. They’ve been bolted to the lovely brickwork in ugly strips, with the wiring and casings all visible. They’re not even one long unit – but several, much cheaper ones that don’t even all change colour at quite the same time.
It’s garish and tacky, like a bad nightclub. Why does EVERYTHING have to be colour changing LEDs?
The photos don’t quite do the effect justice – the lights don’t even continue to the top of the road because it’s low to the pavement and in daylight. So it’s like a disjointed dotted-line of metal that begins and ends abruptly. That’s why these things should be hidden!
Does no-one with any sense of aesthetic look at these plans first?
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