Gereja Katedral Makassar

Public Buildings and Spaces

Lighting Designer

2025 · Makassar, ID

Makassar Cathedral, formally Gereja Hati Yesus Yang Mahakudus, has gone through three distinct architectural identities: a Neo-Gothic church built in 1898–1900 under architect Swartbol and later Fischer, an Art Deco enlargement completed in 1941 as the congregation outgrew the original building, and a further expansion begun in 2018 that brought the cathedral to its current form. ALTA Integra's lighting work sits inside that most recent phase, covering both the exterior facade and the worship interior. The facade brief ruled out a commercial-style approach from the start: the design needed to read as dignified and warm rather than bright for its own sake, stay considerate of nearby residents and light pollution, and support nighttime recognition without glare. A preliminary study mapped the building's visual hierarchy, sacred focal points, vertical proportions, and material texture, and settled on warm color temperatures and layered, selective accent rather than uniform floodlighting. The integration study that followed, facade analysis, nighttime context studies, beam angle optimization, material reflectance testing, and simulation, kept visible equipment to a minimum so the lighting reads as part of the architecture rather than added to it. Inside, the cathedral's dramatic timber vaulted ceiling, Gothic-inspired arches, and stained glass became the anchor for a layered scheme of ambient, architectural, and liturgical focal lighting. Indirect lighting reveals the ceiling's geometry and craftsmanship while keeping glare down; vertical illumination on the columns and arches reinforces the Gothic verticality; and liturgical focal lighting carries the eye from the congregation toward the altar, crucifix, and sanctuary. High color-rendering fixtures were specified to hold the true color of the timber and stained glass, on glare-controlled, energy-efficient LED with lighting control flexible enough to run different scenes for different services.