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20Hong Kong · Speirs Major

Leave the lawn dark

Salisbury Garden lights its edges and lets the lawn become a place to watch the skyline.

Dazzle Digest desk · from the linked project pages

Salisbury Garden makes room for the Hong Kong skyline.
Salisbury Garden, Hong KongPeople on and around the lawn at night. The edges glow and the lawn itself is unlit.Photo: Jackie Chan / Speirs Major Light Architecture

Salisbury Garden is designed so that its lawn becomes a serene place to take in the views of the Hong Kong Island skyline1. The lawn sits on a halo of light around its edge, and the pedestrian areas are lit discreetly1.

Away from the lawn, most of the garden’s light comes from vertical surfaces, which the studio says gives the sensation of being safely wrapped in light1. The photograph shows the effect: people gather in the dark middle and look out.

Planters glow, the lawn stays dark, and the skyline does the rest.
Salisbury Garden · towards the harbourPlanters glow, the lawn stays dark, and the skyline does the rest.Photo: Speirs Major

From the project

All the light sources are LEDs in weatherproof, marine-resistant housings, and the lighting scenes are balanced by a fully automated lighting-management system1.

The same approach continues along the harbour on the Avenue of Stars, in Chapter 5, where relative darkness is again the theme.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these public pages. Open the original to check it, or to see more of the project.

  1. Speirs MajorSpeirs Major — Salisbury GardenUndated page · checked 2026-09-28
Next · p.21Leave room for the distant skyline.In brief: five more parks, from the Golden Gate to Birmingham.

Chapter 03 · Parks after darkRead it in the issue →

More from Parks after dark

p.16 · San Francisco · HLB LightingA hierarchy of light, fourteen acres widep.17 · London · Speirs MajorThe boardwalk that dims for batsp.18 · London · Speirs MajorA bench with its own reading light

Leave some dark.

This story is from the October 2026 Toronto issue of Dazzle Digest, a free monthly magazine about lighting and life after dark.

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Dazzle Digest is an independent magazine. Stories are written by the Dazzle Digest desk from the public pages linked under each one; photographs belong to the credited studios, makers and photographers and remain under rights review. No brand, studio or manufacturer in these pages is a sponsor.