Preservation of the Ambience Values through Lighting: A Case Study of the Pedestrian Skadarlija Street in Belgrade

Abstract

The phenomenon of lighting is one of the major elements which can promote sustainability of the urban ambience entities and the preservation of social, architectural and urban values. Its significance can be seen both in the functional qualities of safety and amenity for users, and the preservation of the mode in which the users experience the space. Public urban spaces are the core elements of the urban tissue and hence represent the places of interactions which envoy the zeitgeist to the space. The Skadarlija street is an authentic ambience in which a particular public life of Belgrade is featured. Therefore, it was officially acknowledged as the spatial cultural historical entity of the old town's centre. The primary goal of this paper is to provide an insight into the process of the creation of the space perception patterns in relation to the applied lighting model which has transformed over time. Various approaches to the lighting of this street are presented, starting with the traditional lanterns all the way to the advanced lighting sources which embody innovation and the contemporary methods in this field. Different concepts of lighting which were in the history used in Skadarlija street are analyzed and the conclusions are reached concerning the influence of lighting on the preservation of the ambience values and the patterns in which the notion of space and its atmosphere are created.