Christmas Light Installation in Boston, MA

This plaza called for a lighting plan that could connect several storefronts without competing with the existing signs and architectural lighting. We followed the long, flat parapet lines with alternating red and green bulbs, then carried the same spacing around the taller restaurant facade and down its vertical corners. The continuous run keeps the separate building sections visually connected while respecting each entrance and storefront.

From the parking lot, the red and green pattern reads clearly across the full width of the property. On the restaurant section, the lights frame the stepped roofline and work with the existing red fascia illumination. Farther along the Boston plaza, the straight roofline installation gives the smaller storefronts a consistent outline and makes the entire retail row easy to read at night.

The challenge

The property is made of separate buildings with different parapet heights. The restaurant at one end has a stepped roofline, a glass entry tower that rises above the walls, and an existing red illuminated band along its fascia. The neighboring storefronts sit under a long, low parapet. The lighting needed to respect the red band and still carry one pattern from building to building.

How we lit it

We placed the bulbs along the top of the parapet cap, directly above the red fascia band, so the two read as a pair instead of competing. On the restaurant the run climbs to the top of the glass entry tower, crosses it, and steps back down to the lower walls, then turns the corner to continue along the side elevation.

The long storefront parapet carries the same alternating red and green sequence at the same spacing. The brick walls, windows and entrances below were left unlit, so the shopfronts and their signs stay easy to see.

The result

From the parking lot, the parapet line and the red fascia form a double band of color on the restaurant, and the straight runs over the smaller shops keep the whole row consistent. The pattern still reads at the far end of the lot, where the individual bulbs merge into one line.

Materials

• Premium faceted LED C9 bulbs in the Holly Jolly mix, alternating red and green, along the parapets of both buildings
• The same red and green C9 run, stepping up and over the restaurant's glass entry tower and turning the building corners

This shopping plaza has a long, mostly horizontal facade broken by raised entrance towers and a central clock feature. The layout called for a lighting pattern that could connect the individual storefront sections without competing with the existing signs. For this commercial project in East Boston, we installed alternating red and green lights along the upper parapet, then continued the same spacing up the sloped sides and around the tops of the raised facade sections.

At dusk, the continuous line makes the full length of the plaza read as one property. The horizontal runs connect the storefronts, while the outlined towers mark the changes in height and give the center of the building more definition. From the parking lot, the red-and-green pattern remains consistent across both wide and close views, with the brightest concentration around the clock tower.

The challenge

This is a large, active shopping center. The facade stretches across many storefronts, and the parapet sits well above the sidewalk, over a band of green metal cladding. The line is interrupted by raised entrance sections with angled sides and by a clock tower that stands higher than everything else. Whatever we installed had to hold one rhythm across all of it without crowding the tenant signs below.

Before the install we walked the site to plan how the bulbs would attach along the parapet and where each run would connect to power. The work was done from a boom lift at night, to stay clear of the daytime traffic in the parking lot.

How we lit it

We set the bulbs along the top edge of the light gray parapet band, just under the green panels, so the line sits between the roof mass and the signs instead of cutting through either. At each raised entrance the run climbs the angled sides and crosses the flat top, then drops back to the parapet on the other side.

The clock tower gets the full treatment: both slopes and the vertical corners up to its cap. Red and green alternate bulb by bulb along the entire length, the classic holiday combination, which reads clearly from the far side of the lot.

The result

At blue hour the outline holds its own against the sky and the storefront lighting, and the tenant signs stay fully legible beneath it. From the road the plaza reads as a single building with a lit center, and closer in, the evenly spaced bulbs keep each storefront tied to the ones beside it.

Materials

• Premium faceted LED C9 bulbs in the Holly Jolly mix, alternating red and green, along the full parapet
• The same red and green C9 run, outlining the raised entrance sections and the clock tower