• 21.05.2015   Light concepts

    Vertical lighting.

Eye-to-eye with customers.  

People primarily perceive their environment at eye level. Needless to say, this also applies to customers in retail stores. Here wall illumination is particularly important for vertical visual tasks. Illuminated walls are valuable presentation areas that showcase products, boards or objects from afar: for example, shelves of bread in bakeries or wall shelving in bookshops or newsagents. At the same time such illuminated vertical surfaces facilitate orientation and convey the dimensions of the room.

A bright wall saves energy.


An illuminated rear wall, for example, conveys the depth of the salesroom to customers and encourages them to discover the range of products as soon as they enter the store. In addition, vertical light not only contributes to the general brightness level as indirect light, it also supports energy-efficient light planning with a psychological effect: with the same illumination vertical surfaces are perceived as brighter than horizontal surfaces, and this is why low illuminances with reduced wattages are sufficient to create a bright spatial impression.

Vertical light necessitates special luminaires.

If a wall surface is illuminated from the ceiling with a normal spotlight, a very uneven light distribution pattern is created: a bright "hot spot" forms in the top area near the luminaire, while the brightness rapidly declines towards the bottom away from the luminaire. This is why special luminaires called wallwashers are needed for effective vertical light. Their special feature: the asymmetrical light distribution, which brings more brightness to the lower area of the wall and leads to uniform illumination of the vertical area – especially in the case of series installation. But here, too, there are subtle differences depending on the application, which a lighting specialist like BÄRO responds to with products that are equally specialised.

  • Intara RC

  • Intara RD 19x

WallWash: uniform washing of walls.

When the primary task is the homogenous illumination of large free-standing walls or the illumination of very large objects, the planner needs a luminaire with a uniform, soft, diffuse light distribution pattern. At BÄRO the new recessed luminaire Intara RC 625 with LED technology and a linear WallWash reflector with an asymmetrical main angle of beamspread meet this requirement. With their indirect reflector system these linear wallwashers are almost entirely glare-free, guaranteeing optimum deployment, also in the area close to the wall, without any annoying reflections on the surface illuminated.

WallBeam: powerful focal point at eye level.

Vertical shelving is also a typical retail situation with particularly prominent presentation of the products arranged at eye level. Luminaires combining the asymmetrical emission characteristics of a wallwasher with the accentuated light distribution pattern of a spotlight are particularly suitable here – for a focal point at eye level giving the products that extra punch. In the BÄRO product range this task is assumed by the recessed luminaires Intara RD 197 or Intara SQ 177 with their WallBeam reflector.

New reflectors designed for LED technology considerably expand the design possibilities for vertical light in the retail sector. Your BÄRO lighting consultant will be pleased to take a close look at your project and see where vertical lighting can be efficiently used in a way that promotes sales.

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