since 2003 lighting design
agency
Filé de lumière sur une rue commerçante animée, de nuit

Lighting design & object design

Understanding the atmosphere of a place - its architecture, the way it is used, the way night redraws it: the lighting concept grows out of that close reading. Then finding the right intensity, the one that reveals a material, hollows out a shadow and leaves the night sky the share that belongs to it. From the illumination of a monument to the drawing of a bespoke luminaire, we carry the project from sketch to prototype, reconciling feeling and use: visual comfort, aesthetics and the maintenance to come.

L’hôtel de ville de La Baule éclairé à l’heure bleue
Place du centre-ville de Chartres éclairée à l’heure bleue

Lighting master plan

A lighting master plan gives a city the night-time writing it lacks: a single intention, in which every district, every route and every square receives its due share of light and darkness. It ranks the streets and spaces to be treated, sets the range of luminaires, the colour temperatures and the lighting levels, then maps out the long-term development of the lighting stock, with an eye on the existing colour environment as much as on the constraints of operation and maintenance.

Night-time strategy

Lighting a city means first deciding what is left to the night - where light is necessary, where it is superfluous, where it costs more than it brings. An inventory of the stock, photometric surveys, an analysis of energy and maintenance spending: the survey always comes before the strategy. Actions are then ranked by priority - regulatory, safety, energy savings, added value - and we stay with the client to the end: writing the brief and the tender documents, weighing direct management against delegation and performance contracts, then comparing the bids on technical merit and whole-life cost.

Vue aérienne nocturne d’un centre-ville et de ses rues éclairées

About

Founded in 2003 and based in the Loire valley, Noctabene is an independent lighting design practice. Its multidisciplinary teams - lighting designers, lighting engineers, product designers - work on urban lighting, heritage illumination, public lighting audits and surveys, events and the design of luminous objects, always weaving the technical together with the artistic. The practice is led by Christophe Canadell, lighting designer and founder, and Alexis Lippens, operations director.

Whether the project is urban or commercial, indoors or out, permanent or temporary, we design bespoke installations - original, restrained and efficient - and see to their technical delivery and site supervision alike, under study contracts or as project managers. The cities of Nancy, Nouméa and Saint-Nazaire have entrusted us with their public lighting; others with the illumination of landmarks such as the Assemblée Nationale in Paris or the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Noctabene works throughout France and internationally, and is a member of the Association des Concepteurs Éclairagistes and of the Association Française de l’Éclairage.

The team

Christophe Canadell
Christophe Canadell

Managing director, founder, lighting designer

Alexis Lippens
Alexis Lippens

Head of the Tours office, engineer

Catherine da Silva
Catherine da Silva

Art director, lighting designer

Clément Legrand
Clément Legrand

Head of the Réunion office, engineer

Yann Rozier
Yann Rozier

Project manager, lighting engineer

Parwine Aziz
Parwine Aziz

Sales & communications manager

Nicolas Houel
Nicolas Houel

Project manager, lighting engineer

Jessica Thebault
Jessica Thebault

Project manager, lighting engineer

Camila Le Bertre
Camila Le Bertre

Project manager, lighting engineer

Emelyne Metoyer
Emelyne Metoyer

Administrative assistant & tender management

Léa Slimani
Léa Slimani

Administrative manager

Audrey Poltron
Audrey Poltron

Administrative assistant

Contact

noctabene Tours

1 rue de la Briaudière
37510 Ballan-Miré · France
+33 247 679 357 · contact@noctabene.com

noctabene Indian Ocean

21 rue de l’Océan Indien
97436 Saint-Leu · Réunion Island · France
+262 693 612 000 · clement@noctabene.com

Follow us

Work in progress, openings, new installations and luminous objects: the practice’s news can be followed through our posts.