Shedding Light on Why Lighting Designers Choose Lumenrail

When it comes to shorter hours of daylight, here at Wagner we choose to look on the bright side. After all, darkness gives us more time to appreciate the benefits and the beauty of Lumenrail®, our illuminated handrail systems! For safety and wayfinding after sundown, nothing offers more versatility and ambiance to your public space. And it’s not just because our lighted railing products use state-of-the-art LED light fixtures. Let’s shed some light on three big reasons our lighted rail systems are increasingly spec’d over old-fashioned pole lighting.

For bringing elements to light

 In natural areas, as well as in urban environments, so much visual information is literally at our feet. This could include architectural details, landscaping, plant-scaping, and other elements. Ask any builder of public spaces; great care has gone into the planning of the environment from the knees down, so give greenery, masonry and other features the drama they deserve with unobtrusive lighted rail. Lumenrail invites exploration on foot, putting the beauty of place on display. With plants being the primary reason they exist, Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh surely kept this in mind when they chose Lumenrail.

For extending the use of public spaces

Many public plazas become dormant once the sun goes down – but it doesn’t have to be that way. Lighted railing offers a visual connection between gathering spaces, inviting people to stop and stay longer. Research shows that lighting in open spaces attracts them to communal areas. In “The Landscape Lighting Book,” landscape lighting designer, Janet Lennox Moyer, notes that people feel safer when they can see boundaries of a space – which is another benefit of lighted railing. Pedestrian friendly solutions like our Lumenrail, shown here at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, can help make it so.

For providing safety in high traffic areas 

If you have flown over a city at night, you see how every lamp post casts only a round beam of safety for pedestrians below. In fact, you might be able to picture a cartoon character running from post to post for protection from the darkness. But lighting in high traffic areas should not be spotty. It should be consistent and should not involve a drastic delineation between darkness and light. In research titled “The Relationship Between the Pedestrian Lighting Environment and Perceived Safety” it is advised that pedestrian lighting be uniform and continuously distributed without sudden drops in light level. Imagine an expansive staircase like this one at Marquette University’s Engineering Hall without continuous illumination from step to step. When it comes to safe staircases, a lamp post could only hope to pull off a feat of engineering as beautifully as Lumenrail.

Lumenrail light fixtures come in point-source option, as in our Lumenpod® and Bantam™ – or in continuous sections, like our Lumenlinear™ fixtures. Using any number of our lighted handrail options, you are free to paint your area with light the way you see fit. Wagner Lumenrail® fixtures can be installed indoors or out, in both wet and dry locations, and their ETL listed luminaries come tones of brilliant cool or warm white. How’s that for all-seasons flexibility?

Next time you find yourself on an evening’s walk, ask yourself – is the lighting enhancing your path or is it overshadowing it? For details on how to make Lumenrail a reality in your next project, download our free brochure and contact our team of experts. It is sure to be an enlightening experience!