Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne, Nantes, France

A 15 year restoration of Château des Ducs de Bretagne (Castle of the Dukes of Brittany) in Nantes was completed in late 2006 and the 15th-century castle reopened to the public earlier this year. Built by the Dukes of Brittany, the Château is a massive, well-preserved fortress with a moat.

A night-time illumination of the monument has contributed to the site's renaissance. Designed by Pierre Nègre of Atelier Lumière and independent lighting designer Sylvie Sieg, their intention was to reveal the building's full architectural complexity while situating it in its urban environment.

A space open to the city
A centuries old mix of Gothic and Renaissance architecture, some 500 meters of bastion walls built of granite blocks separated by layers of schist are punctuated by seven towers linked by a sentry walk. The challenge in creating a night-time image was to illuminate the Château as ‘a space open to the city’ with an expressed desire to move away from a ‘postcard’ ambience in which only visually appealing aspects are illuminated.

The highly contemporary lighting design is based on a double principle:
1) Unifying the architectural elements via an undulating line of red light encircling the monument.
2) Using light and shade to reveal the building's contrasts, highlighting both its defensive aspects and the elegance of the inner residence with its carved décor.

Exterior 600 modification
Pierre Nègre first defined a lighting concept in which an outdoor IP65 rated 575W fixture could be used for image projection then agreed to implement the concept on the Chateau des Ducs project. After failing to convince one company to manufacture the required luminaire Martin succeeded in modifying its existing Exterior 600 luminaire to the LD’s wishes.

The Exterior 600, an IP65 rated automated color-changing washlight, was modified with the addition of a gobo pattern holder by Martin Professional in collaboration with Pierre Nègre. On the Château’s southern façade, designers chose to bring the site to life using the Exterior 600s to project motifs and figurative forms across the walls.

Some 49 of the special 575W Exterior 600 image projectors and 7 standard Exterior 600 washlights were incorporated, most placed in front of the bastion façade and on the sides of adjacent ditches. Martin France supplied the Martin fixtures with installation by Jeanneau Electricité.

“Based on the concept and the reflections of the lighting designers – Pierre Negre and Sylvie Sieg - we developed with Pierre Nègre some 575 watt IP65 projectors in order to meet the project’s objectives which were to structure the project by giving it a direction of lights and also a symbolic red thread which guides the spectators on an initiatory journey all around the castle,” comments Jean-Pierre Ferreira, Martin Architectural Market Manager at Martin France. “A certain level of cooperation with the lighting designers was needed to arrive at such a result. All the fixed images were realized with this same equipment in order to accentuate the remarkable elements of the architecture.”

Additional lighting
Other lighting elements of the restoration include illumination of the Cours Saint-Pierre to bring touches of low-angled light to the 15th and 17th century buildings of the Principal Governor's Palace (Grand Gouvernement), the main ducal residence (Grand Logis) and the Golden Crown Tower (tour de la Couronne d'or). At the Château’s main entrance, across a stone bridge, designers evoked the memory of Anne of Brittany. A warm, amber light shines from the interior along the bastion walls as if the Château was inhabited. The atmosphere in the moat gardens differs yet: illumination of the counterscarp produces a more somber light, creating a more medieval effect for the visitor.

The Château des Ducs de Bretagne illumination is the recent recipient of an architectural lighting prize - Prix du Patrimoine Bâti – for outstanding lighting concept presented by Lumiville Lighting Design Trophies.