The National Wallace Monument – Exhibition Lighting

Lighting design for the new exhibition and interpretation design by Studioarc experienced across 3 floors at the National Wallace Monument. 

The exhibition composed of the Hall of Heroes, the Hall of Arms, and the Royal Chamber.

Each floor offered a different story and presented its own challenge architecturally.

As a protected heritage building, our lighting solutions required minimal architectural intervention during installation. The majority of lighting installed utilised existing electrical infrastructure, while using discrete cable routes through the new exhibition furniture design to achieve a sympathetic solution. The installation and light focussing floor by floor required pragmatic consideration due to restricted accessibility. The design employed creativity on a modest budget, and re-purposing of equipment where appropriate.

The lighting design enhanced the exhibition celebrating the life of William Wallace in the Hall of Arms. We lit the Wallace Sword with a measure of respect and marvel, cross-lighting to highlight the aged detail in the sword hilt, and up-lighting the blade to create dramatic effect.

We created a sense of theatre through lighting the coat of arms ‘selfie’ interactive in the Royal Chamber. On this floor we introduced a discrete up-light to lift the architectural barrel ceiling.