Breaking away from traditional lighting vernacular was a central topic of discussion when Landscape Forms designers and engineers began working with their counterparts at Designworks, a BMW Group company, to create the Typology Collection.

Over a year in the works, Typology brings together seating and lighting to contribute a dynamic new dimension to outdoor spaces, enveloping the visitor—both from above and below—in an immersive design experience.

“Especially in the design of Typology’s lighting, we wanted to simultaneously harmonize with and contrast against common themes in urban architecture,” says Tobias Adami, Creative Director at Designworks. “The tall, slender forms of the luminaires accentuate the verticality of the urban space, while the organic curves and repeated use of circles throughout the different components’ design serves to contrast the angular, motherboard-like layout that defines most cities."

Breaking away from traditional lighting vernacular was a central topic of discussion when Landscape Forms designers and engineers began working with their counterparts at Designworks, a BMW Group company, to create the Typology Collection.

“Designworks is always an exciting partner to work with,” says Landscape Forms Chief Creative Officer Kirt Martin. “They are true collaborators on both sides of the design equation, having the passion and profound creativity to help tell an original story through design, but also the engineering expertise and technical prowess to help bring that design from sketch to site installation. They have our utmost trust to execute consistently on such a high level for ambitious projects like the Typology Collection.”

“Even for two companies known for their originality in design, I think we’ve both gone above and beyond with this statement collection,” says Landscape Forms President of Lighting, Jordan Agustin. “The Typology Collection light fixtures are all signature pieces that present illumination in artful and uncommon ways. During the day, the striking form of the luminaires adds visual interest to the space, and, at night, the way the light is cast is art in and of itself.”

“In our early discussions about lighting design, a guiding question was 'How do you light open spaces without using the traditional light pole we’re all so familiar with?’” recalls Landscape Forms President of Site Furnishings & Structure Robb Smalldon.

With this determination and the two teams’ complementary expertise in product innovation, artful design, and state-of-the-art manufacturing, came the striking luminaires and unique lighting-enabled seating that set the Typology Collection apart. At the heart of the collection, the flowing, cast concrete ribbon bench uses integral downward-facing lighting to create a low-glare carpet of illumination around its footprint, drawing in visitors and aiding wayfinding.

Following the ribbon bench as they snake through the urban landscape, two distinctive area lights—the Typology ring light and the Typology stick light—provide artful and intriguing illumination from above. Like a looking glass to the sky, Typology ring lights are stunning, glowing halos. Perched atop a steel mast, a circular strip of LEDs creates a solid ring of ambient light that is recognized instantly from nearly a mile away. When viewed from underneath, the luminaires are portals to the sky, pulling the gaze upward and accentuating a vertical urban landscape.

Typology stick lights further break from lighting tradition with a pole that is itself one solid source of light. These vertical columns of warm white light stake claim to the site, accompanying the modular ribbon bench across its diverse configurations and creating prominent visual landmarks that draw people into the site. Arranged side-by-side, stick lights can divide spaces, punctuate spaces, or create virtual rooms of light.

“There’s a pervasive sense of weightlessness that runs through the collection, communicated in many ways through the creative use of illumination,” describes Augustin. “You may think of concrete as ponderous and monolithic, yet the ribbon bench is anything but. With integrated lighting illuminating the space around and underneath the bench, the whole structure looks like it’s floating above the ground. This stylistic lightness ties in with the fine, cylindrical nature of the stick light and the airy openness of the ring light to bring strong continuity across a variety of forms and materials.”

“You may think of concrete as ponderous and monolithic, yet the ribbon bench is anything but—with integrated lighting illumining the space around and underneath the bench, the whole structure looks like it’s floating above the ground. This stylistic lightness ties in with fine, cylindrical nature of the stick light and the airy, openness of the ring light to bring strong continuity across a variety of forms and materials.”

Manufacturing the luminaires to create a cohesive narrative of light, shadow, form, and space provided unique challenges for product engineers on both sides of the collaboration, challenges Landscape Forms Lighting Innovation Specialist Eric Nelson was eager to take on. “The way we approach the design and manufacture of light fixtures is different than that of many other lighting companies. Often, light fixtures are designed mostly by engineers with a strong focus on technical specifications—how much light is needed, and where it needs it to go—and aesthetics being a secondary focus,” describes Nelson. "But at Landscape Forms and especially for the Typology Collection, we needed to weigh both these priorities evenly. The luminaires needed to be both industry-leading in their technical performance and aesthetically beautiful, unique, and inspiring in their form.”

“This delicate balance between functionality and design integrity was something we experienced in engineering the internal components for the ring light,” continues Nelson. "It’s quite an unusual form, so we couldn’t rely on our familiar-sized LEDs and optics to achieve the halo-like effect that the design called for. Instead, we opted for a flexible LED strip with the diodes placed extremely close together and projected it through diffuse urethane to create a smooth, contiguous line of light more reminiscent of neon than LEDs. It worked out beautifully.”

With its lofty design ambitions achieved and engineering challenges overcome, the spirit and purpose of the Typology Collection are clear: to create inspiring outdoor places for people to come together. “This new collection speaks of gathering," concludes Nelson. "The stick light serves as a beacon to guide people. The ring light makes a welcoming gesture that says ‘Come join us.’ The curve of the ribbon benches invites people to relax, converse, and enjoy each other’s company. Togetherness and community…It’s a beautiful thing."