A green excursion – Ansorg creates a lighting concept for an authentic nature experience at the garden centre

The Kremer Garden Centre has reinvented the plant and garden accessory shopping experience at its headquarters in Lennestadt by transforming the garden centre into a recreation and excursion destination. It provides the perfect symbiosis of education, recreation, fun and enjoyment to visiting nature lovers. The experience includes a nature playground, an interactive museum and a cosy garden cafe, and it has given Germany’s Sauerland region a new leisure destination. “During the project we focused on unspoiled natural landscapes such as mountains, hills and trees. That’s why we built the entire garden centre facing the gently sloping terrain down to the River Lenne,” explained Marvin Hüttermann, Designer and Project Manager from the Nexd agency, adding, “The high transparency of the all-glass building gives visitors an unobstructed view of the river meadow and the enchanting natural scenarios.“

The Ansorg concept makes a change from conventional lighting scenarios. “We steered away from the monotony and blandness of standard linear lighting arrangements, installing a multitude of individual light points to create the nuanced shadows you would see in natural sunlight and bring out the brilliance of the flowers,” explained Niklas Reiners, Light Application Manager at Ansorg. No nature experience would be complete without authentic lighting conditions. “Light is an essential element in the design for our new centre in Lennestadt because it allows us to move into a brand new dimension of product presentation that emphasises the natural beauty of the plants,” added the owner Alexander Kremer.

When you walk through the door you feel as if you’re entering a natural environment because the precisely positioned Ansorg luminaires replicate the natural daylight of the ‘outside world’ in a very authentic way. Visitors wander past the cork tree in the entrance area, through sunflower fields, along the herb plantations and past the thoughtfully arranged displays. This magnificent replica of nature is made possible by a dynamic and expertly orchestrated symphony of light and shadow. Natural light flows have been harmoniously recreated with precision-planned, intermingling light beams from the track-mounted spotlights.

High colour fidelity guarantees the richness of the greenery, as well as the wonderful depth of colour in the flowers. Visitors only notice at second glance – if at all – that what they thought was a ray of sun on the violet is actually one of the perfectly aligned, surface-mounted spotlights that Ansorg has installed at a height of 3.8 metres to create a multitude of light points. The light brings out the delicate iridescence of the orchid petals, projects dancing shadows onto the birch tree leaves and emphasises the natural depth, colour and texture of the philodendron leaf markings.

Perfectly aligned luminaires and their low-glare, 3D faceted reflectors make the precision illumination of the various products possible. “The light colours were also chosen to reflect nature’s diversity. A carefully curated light colour mix allows us to create natural light colour flows that emphasise the many nuances of the product colours – such as the various browns in the bark mulch and the delicate greens of the steppe grasses,” explained Niklas Reiners. The power rails have been installed very discreetly so as not to detract from the architecture. Unlike a linear lighting concept, they appear to melt into the greenhouse structure without creating an additional level. They actually look more like a twinkling, dazzle-free light chain in a beer garden.

Another special aspect of the Kremer lighting concept is that the light inside the garden centre adapts to the time of day and prevailing weather conditions. For example, on a beautiful day the accentuating lighting inside the garden centre will have a stronger intensity to create an ‘indoor sunscape’. And if the sky clouds over additional spotlights are switched on to keep the lighting conditions constant and let visitors continue to enjoy an inspirational, nuanced lighting scenario. When darkness falls, the wide-beam floodlights take over the sun’s function, bathing the garden centre in warm afternoon light. Visitors feel cosy and comforted as they stroll along the narrow aisles to discover the indoor plants in their individually illuminated theme worlds. Accent lights are cleverly used to showcase objects and areas with coordinated light and colour effects that create enchanting aesthetics with boutique flair. The greenhouse-style garden cafe, with hanging plants growing down from the ceiling and a warm lighting mood, is the perfect place to take a break. Kremer has also designed a museum with interactive and entertainment elements to give the entire family a hands-on experience of nature. Here, the lighting concept visually separates the museum area from the other theme worlds. Homogenous basic lighting with high sharpness and clarity ensures that the information texts are easy to read.

An intensive collaboration was the key to bringing this unique garden centre concept to life. Managing Director Alexander Kremer, Marvin Hüttermann from Nexd and the Ansorg lighting experts liaised closely in the project to achieve a harmonious overall result. Alexander Kremer summed up: “The lighting concept emphasises the centre’s organic vibrancy, making it look so much more fascinating and luxurious.”