​As part of an on-going light installation project, The Royal Court of Sweden added 100 SGM P-2 LED wash lights to Djurgården’s park entrance. In order to enhance the number of visitors during dark period of the year, the light installation will serve as a warm welcome, making visitors feel safe all year round.

“The plan was to give the surroundings around the entrance of Djurgården a bit of life and a more welcoming environment during the darker winter months. We also needed to be able to change the look throughout the year, creating something scary for Halloween, something cosy for Christmas, and so on,” said lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson, who also mentioned that it was a fun project to work on.

”During the planning process, we looked for a rugged, fairly small, fixture that would deliver most bang for the buck. That led us to SGM and the P-2 range,” said Jönsson about his choice of fixture.

“You shall still get the feeling of walking through a park, but one that doesn’t look like an ordinary park. The light installation should give you a warm welcome to the Royal Park, and it should give you the feeling that there is more to experience inside, guiding you deeper into the park and its many different attractions,” says Magnus Andersson, Warden at The Royal Court of Sweden, who underlines that the installation is aimed to be the beginning of a larger project.

Located in the city centre of Stockholm, Royal Djurgården has, for ages, been the most popular place to go for leisure and pleasure for both locals and tourists. For centuries, it has been open to the public, and today, the total number of visitors is estimated to be more than 15 million per year, exceeding the number of people visiting the Chinese Wall.

With Sweden’s infamous dark winters, most park visits take place during the summer months. Therefore, together with the amusement parks, museums, restaurants etc. in the area, the Administration of Royal Djurgården has planned a light installation to improve the environment around the entrance of the Royal Park. The idea is to let the colours change during the dark season, so visitors get a new experience each time, with more red colours and tones during Christmas etc. This makes the light installation, and the park, a true experience all year round.

“For the coming seasons, we hope to extend the project and add light to more sites in the park as well as work with different visual effects. We want to cooperate more with the different institutions in the park in order to illuminate, not only the greenery, but also our great number of beautiful and interesting historical buildings and monuments as well as sculptures and other pieces of art,” says Andersson.

The Royal Djurgården Administration has been responsible for the maintenance of the site since 1809-1810, and has made it a mission to make the park both brighter and safer, as well as more beautiful and exciting.

Using 100 compact SGM P-2 LED wash lights along the main road leading into the King’s island of Djurgården, the art installation is sure to make visitors feel captivated and welcome.

“We did look at other alternatives, but ultimately selected SGM’s P-2 for its much clearer colours and the small form factor, presenting a lot of 'bang for the buck' or 'light output per kilo', and the fact that it will withstand the climate. We were told that the fan in the unit can freeze without damaging it. We have tested that, and found it to be true,” said project manager Inge-Björn Mossige-Norheim.

Currently, two lines of trees on the main access road are lit up, and changes colour in a preprogrammed sequence. However, according to the lighting designer, the plan is to add both more lights and a control system that will enable more complex looks and themes in the future.