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Berlin Festival of Lights 2025
An article by Ayça Zümrüt for Berlin Festival of Lights 2025
Berlin Festival of Lights 2025
Details:
Location: Berlin, Germany
Year: 2025
Berlin Light Festival: How a City Rebuilds Its Story Through Light
My trip to Berlin was not only my first time traveling abroad alone, but also a personal journey that allowed me to understand more deeply how light interacts with space as a young lighting designer. As I explored the city during the day—walking through cathedrals, museums, and large-scale public buildings—Berlin became an open laboratory where I could observe how architecture and light come together.
At the Berliner Dom, the way natural light filtered through the stained-glass windows and intertwined with the historical texture of the space created a balanced rhythm between light and shadow that held me still for a long moment. As a young designer, I was reminded once again of how essential it is to consider both natural and artificial light when shaping an atmosphere. Light is not just a technical solution—it is a narrative tool that completes the spirit of a space, making it visible, tangible, and emotionally resonant. Berlin made me feel this very clearly.
In the museums, historical artifacts were not only exhibited but also protected and guided through light. The illumination of the objects and the space together formed a coherent whole, naturally directing visitors through each section. Even in metros and public spaces, observing the relationship between Berlin’s large-scale structures and everyday lighting revealed how deeply the city’s rhythm is shaped by light.
While I collected these architectural impressions throughout the day, the city transformed into something completely different once night fell. Places I passed by without noticing during daylight suddenly reappeared under illumination; a new dimension of architecture came to life.
In urban environments, buildings often fade into the background of daily life, becoming almost invisible within the city’s fast pace. But during the Berlin Light Festival, these structures became an active part of the journey. As darkness settled, crowds began to gather on certain streets, waiting with quiet anticipation under the streetlights.
The architectural landmarks chosen for the festival—especially Berlin’s iconic buildings—suddenly turned into monumental screens telling their own independent stories. The geometry, materiality, and depth of the façades were redefined through projections, as if light were bending and reshaping the boundaries of architecture. Heavy stone masses of the daytime seemed to transform into stages dancing with maps of light.
Light shaped by the structure of the building transformed architecture—usually standing quietly in the background of the city—into something that interacted with public life, something people truly looked at, felt, and connected with. When the projections began, an ordinary façade, a familiar corner building, or even a historic cathedral suddenly took on a completely new identity. Structures that people had passed daily for years without noticing became visible again, meaningful again, and powerful again through the intervention of light.
Watching the Berlin Cathedral turn into a living organism through colorful projections reminded me of the limitless scale, impact, and expressive strength of light as a medium. Seeing hundreds of people gather around light—pausing, watching, sharing the same moment—made me realize once more how unifying light can be in public space.
For me, the Berlin Light Festival was far more than an impressive light event; it was a multilayered experience showing how a city can briefly reconstruct its identity, rhythm, and story through light. Both personally and professionally, it led me to rethink the relationship between light, space, and the human experience.
