Lightbahn is a research and design practice working at the intersection of artificial light, natural night, and human experience. We help people and places make better decisions about darkness.
Lighting design to protect the night.
And experiences to remember why.Day and night are equal halves of the same world.
The night sustains more than we typically credit it with. Ecological systems, biological rhythms, cultural identities, astronomical conditions, the physical character of a place after dark. All of it alive, all of it in relationship, all of it shaped by how much or how little light we choose to introduce.
Our work begins by understanding the full texture of what a place's night already is. That understanding shapes everything we make, publish, and propose.
Nightprint
Every place has a nocturnal character. Nightprint makes it legible.
Nightprint is a site assessment methodology developed by Lightbahn to document the nocturnal imprint of a place: everything the night holds before artificial light is introduced. It maps the species, rhythms, ecological sensitivities, and cultural relationships that define a place after dark.