Wallwashing is a popular name for a lighting design technique for illumination of large surfaces. It is mainly used with contemporary architecture; in public cultural buildings, museums and galleries; and in landscape lighting.

 

    Most of what one actually sees, entering a room, are the vertical surfaces. The illumination requires asymmetric lighting fixtures, which, in a number of 3 or more in a line, can produce evenly illuminated walls. It is a tool mainly used by lighting designers, to create lighter spaces or making the rooms seem brighter or higher. The technique is similar to the "horizon" technique used in theatre lighting.