Port Royal Retreat
Outdoor lighting project in Port Royal
The Port Royal Retreat stands out as one of our favorite landscape lighting projects in Naples to date, marking a milestone for Beacon in Port Royal. Following its completion, five neighboring estates immediately hired our landscape lighting design and installation services to revamp their systems.
During our initial consultation with the homeowner, they expressed dissatisfaction with their low voltage landscape lighting system installed just 24 months ago. They had encountered numerous issues and never felt satisfied with the overall illumination. Upon hearing their concerns, we presented two options: repairing the existing system and tweaking the design, or opting for a complete overhaul.
Given the homeowner’s dissatisfaction with the current design, our team focused on creating a comprehensive lighting plan tailored to their preferences. Ultimately, the homeowner chose a complete system overhaul.
We began by illuminating all the oak trees surrounding the property, especially those near areas of vehicle and foot traffic. This approach created a dramatic effect as you approached the estate, while also providing adequate ambient light to enhance safety.
Next, we illuminated the front elevation of the estate using fixtures that allowed full adjustment of beam spread and lumen output. This flexibility was crucial due to the varied textures, colors, and finishes of the home’s facade, ensuring balanced illumination across the entire design.
Approaching the front door, the courtyard presented a fairy-tale-like setting that demanded special attention. With much of the home’s floor plan wrapping around this courtyard, our challenge was to design lighting that enhanced the ambiance without creating unwanted glare in different living spaces. We achieved this by integrating path lights that added pockets of interest to the lush landscape, intermittent uplights on unique foliage, and illuminating the aquatic feature from within, creating a magical glow that danced around the courtyard.
Adjacent to the garages, the private gatehouse entrance was illuminated by casting light upwards into the arch of the arcade, cascading light down onto the surrounding hardscape. Nearby, a retaining wall was illuminated using strip lighting under the capstone, providing sufficient light for navigating the garage area during the evening. Subtle uplighting was added to the waxy fishtail palms to enhance usable light in this space.
Recognizing the homeowner’s frequent entertainment of guests, we designed the lighting for the rear living space to offer multiple configurations, allowing separate control of various lighting scenes. This setup enabled the homeowner to create different lighting effects to suit different evening needs. For events, all lights in the rear of the property could be activated, including bistro lights, pergola downlights, aquatic lighting, and faux flame sconces, providing ample usable light. Conversely, for quieter evenings, the system could be adjusted to activate only faux flame sconces and subtle landscape lighting, perfect for relaxing in the outdoor living space.
