The Saint Hermeland church is a small church built at the end of the twelfth century, in the gothic art era then emerging in the Ile-de-France region. Born from the same quarries as the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, the church also shared with Notre Dame her artisans as well as her ‘primitive’ style.
The vast restoration campaign led by ‘A&M Patrimoine’ Architects revealed remnants of a painting on the tympanum of the main gate; therefore the lighting design focused mostly on that element of the church.

To reveal at nighttime the simple beauty of the church, light was focused on the internal angles of the buttress, on the small columns and the capitals of the gate. The interior lighting of the church takes part in the illumination, as it adds depth through its stained glass windows and evokes an inside life. The bell tower was also showcased, in order to be visible at night and get symbolically connected to the bell towers of nearby churches.

Finally, the tympanum lighting design turns on at the turn of each hour, and temporarily recreates the bas-relief and its bright colors, through a laser source video projection.