dbell

HSBC Building, China

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation first opened its doors for business in Hong Kong in March 1865. In 150 years of trading, the bank’s headquarters became a stalwart symbol of prosperity and stability, standing on the same site in Central at number One Queens Road. Three magnificent structures have stood on this spot, none more world famous than the last edifice, designed by Norman Foster and built in 1985. So what better way of celebrating this company’s endurance and strength than by a commemorative revamping of its flagship building?

HSBC kicked off its 150th anniversary in Hong Kong with a three-part programme that included a digital makeover of its main building at One Queens Road, a commemorative HK$150 banknote and an interactive exhibition at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

Illumination Physics was commissioned to help bring to life the first wave of the 150th anniversary programme – the digital makeover of HSBC’s headquarters. The north façade of the building has been fitted with three high-resolution LED screens, which have been installed within the glass structure itself and are all but invisible during the day. However, at night these screens ‘come to life’. From 6.30 - 11pm they display images celebrating the city’s character as well as HSBC’s place within it, while also entertaining the nightly passers-by. These screens are so large and vivid that they can be seen from across the harbour in Kowloon.

With respect to the design and installation, it was clear from the start that it would not be enough to simply replace the existing façade lights with superior modern technology designs. Something new and remarkable was required. A grand visual statement was essential to mark the 150th anniversary and distinguish the building from all others taking part in ‘A Symphony of Lights’. A lengthy evaluation of the proposal ensued and a lighting plan was born of necessity.

With a six-month deadline, there was no time to completely re-wire the façade lighting and the existing power and data backbone was reused. Three new light fixtures were designed and manufactured by Illumination Physics specifically for this project. Custom versions of the manufacturer's Wash 48 and Wash 24 were designed so that they could be mated to the existing brackets without fuss, speeding up the work of Illumination Physics’ installation team. This was vital for the program; 90% of the façade lighting would be installed from the permanent gondolas and in a living building there is competition from a number of tasks requiring the external access equipment.

The lighting of this extraordinary building has always accentuated its main feature - the Exoskeleton, comprised of two ladder trusses that extend the full height of the building. Suspended from the ladders are the horizontal and diagonal brace elements of the Exoskeleton, measuring between twelve and eighteen-metres long.

Early in the design a decision was made to use RGBW fixtures allowing for a distinct improvement in colour variety and colour mixing capability. The IP Wash 48 was used for the grazing of the main members of the Exoskeleton; the major change to the fixture was in the use of composite lenses. These fixtures illuminate the Exoskeleton at very shallow angles. It is not possible to alter the height above the illuminated plane by extending the yoke, so two sets of lenses were created within the same fixture to cope with the extremely close mounting position and any possible aberrations. In order to properly deliver light to the illuminated surface closest to the luminaire, the twelve LEDs at the base of the fixture were fitted with an asymmetric 10º by 25º lens, this mitigates hot spots or shadows close to the fixture. The remaining 36 LEDs were fitted with 5º lenses to promote the longer throw of light along the linear Exoskeleton beams allowing for a more uniform composite effect. The ladder truss required a similarly improved wash light. The IP Wash 24 was used with a composite lens of 10º by 60º. This enabled the accurate lighting of the underside of each rung of the ladder without spill.

The refuge floors are another major feature of this building. These mandatory fire escape floors are wonderful open spaces; vast balconies affording magnificent views of Victoria Harbour and the city. Since 1983 the soffits above these double storey open floors had been illuminated as a feature. A wide angle lens version of Illumination Physics' IP Wash 48 was used, which resulted in more saturated, enriched and brighter colours. The replacement of the previous metal halide with LED dramatically reduced the electrical consumption with a saving of around 90%, depending on the programming of the dynamic display.

So the façade lighting had met its new objectives. How could the building now be used to celebrate the bank's 150th anniversary in 2015 and into the future?

Illumination Physics designed three media walls that were integrated into the glass façades between the refuge floors. The top screen measures five floors high, the centre screen measures six floors high and the lower screen covers seven floors. This seamless integration of equipment is all but invisible from the outside. A linear LED strip just 15mm wide was attached to the inside of the outer double-glazed glass layer. Throughout extensive testing, a variety of horizontal pitches were tested until the optimal compromise was found which provided more than 90% transparency for the vision glass panels. Illumination Physics created three vast media walls which can be used to create one composite image or three separate scenes. Every evening, these media walls awaken and visually communicate the tale of the 150 history of HSBC in a spectacular way.

The Exoskeleton HSBC main building is unique in more ways than one. It consists of large triangular shapes that coincidentally make up the HSBC logo. Media content was created on a black background that displays dynamic diamond and triangular kaleidoscopes that are a virtual metaphor of the building’s physical Exoskeleton. The media is always combined with the façade lighting and together they create a lighting display that is synergistic.

The Illumination Physics Systems and Control team faced many challenges when presented with the HSBC light show project. Not only were there 700 universes of DMX required for the mammoth task but these needed to seamlessly integrate with no visible lag in response times.

Illumination Physics specified a control system that would meet these requirements. It was decided early on that a high capacity low latency network was essential for the media screen and façade lighting control systems. Cisco equipment was chosen for the task of distributing 708 universes of DMX control via Artnet and sACN. The media wall alone requires a consistent 130-140mbps of Artnet traffic to be delivered with low latency and jitter across all 85 DMX nodes. System testing demonstrated 700us response times across the infrastructure thus avoiding any capacity and lag issues.

The capacity and design of the network allowed for multiple control systems to be effectively separated while using the same physical infrastructure, reducing overall costs as changes were made throughout the planning and commissioning phases of the project. Remote control was also required for various emergency procedures and monitoring. A fibre connection was supplied by HSBC for this purpose and allowed reliable time synchronisation for the system’s master clock, as well as various triggers from third parties to control the system remotely. A Cisco firewall was used to provide secure access solely to the required devices.

Longevity of the install was key criteria when selecting hardware for the project. All external components were chosen for known reliability and service back up. These devices needed to be compatible with a wide range of control protocols. The nodes allowed for future proofing as well as control changes if required through the run of the project.

The final commissioning of the system took place over January and February this year. Much of the lighting was programmed offline using Capture Argo, with final sign off live. The media content was also scheduled and added during the final commissioning period.

In effect, Illumination Physics has employed a media system to deliver architectural lighting, with the same treatment used to improve the building’s performance during the nightly ‘A Symphony of Lights’ performance. The media walls are used as animated lighting effects that ‘dance’ in time with the music in the citywide daily audio-visual display

www.illuminationphysics.com

by dbell

Melbourne School of Design, Australia

Completed in 2014, Melbourne School of Design is the new home to the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. Described as a pedagogical building, it is setting new standards in education.

John Wardle Architects and Boston based architectural firm NADAAA designed the building after winning an international design competition conducted by the university. Electrolight was commissioned to work alongside these two notable firms in designing the specialist lighting scheme to many of the building’s common spaces, including the atrium.

The atrium is the heart of the building, cutting over four levels with a beautiful faceted timber ceiling, allowing natural light to flood the space below. The entire building is designed as an education tool, with its exposed structures and materials giving an insight into the fabrication and construction techniques used.

Custom designed spider pendants from Dean Phillips sit harmoniously in the space, providing functional illumination to the atrium through clusters of cone pendants. The design of these luminaires incorporates simple, repeated elements and multiple LED light sources to create a comfortable working environment.

One of the architectural feature elements of the atrium is the hanging studio, which is suspended from the ceiling and hovers over the main floor. This element provides a sense of scale and intimacy to the work area below. Lighting has been integrated into the fin detailing of the studio base, which reveals the materials and textures of the timber whilst providing functional illumination. This has been achieved through the use of Dean Phillips Exhausted LED surface-mounted downlights, positioned inside custom made polished aluminium tubes to conceal the luminaire, sprinklers and emergency lights.

The design of the vertical circulation allows the stairs to float within the atrium, supporting the architectural aspirations of a space supportive of the flow of creative ideas. The ambitious scissor stair connect the four levels from the atrium up, allowing students and staff to meander through the building. Internal timber cladding and cleverly integrated lighting details created by Electrolight, made up of a satinice diffuser and VueLite LED strip, that appear to escape from between the timber joins, provide a warm and intimate path of travel.

The lighting design was based on achieving appropriate light levels throughout and not overlighting. Efficient LED light fittings were specified to achieve this, resulting in the school of design achieving a 6-star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council of Australia and the first education building to be awarded 10 Green Star innovation credits.

Before taking on this project, Electrolight had a well-established, 10-year long relationship with JWA. “We are fortunate to have worked on interesting projects, however this was a great project with a great architect,’’ said Jess Perry, Director at Electrolight.

Given the nature of the project, to be involved in the creation of the school of design was always going to be a challenge as lots of people in the design industry would feel the need to offer their opinions, good and bad, adding an extra level of pressure.

As with all projects, lighting is a vital element in defining the space. Perry explained: “it needs to be carefully designed and integrated into the fabric of the space.’’ This ensured a seamless partnership between the architecture and lighting.

Within this partnership with the architecture, the lighting scheme looked to encourage a creative environment and extend the learning experience found amongst the school's students.

When asked about the main challenges faced during this project, Perry responded: “The atrium void was one of the main challenges. We designed various lighting schemes before the design team selected the custom pendant approach.’’

In order to achieve a balance between lighting the project in an efficient way and making the space inviting for students, Electrolight made sure that light distribution within the space was even and well thought out.

Perry continued: “The balancing of light distribution within a space basically sums up what we do as lighting designers. The architectural design by JWA provided us with many opportunities and combined with the various task requirements, the challenge wasn't to work out what to illuminate but rather what not to illuminate.’’

When asked about the selection of particular fittings, Perry explained: “The process that we use is to consider (a) light effects and how to achieve them i.e. light output, beam distribution, colour temperature etc. (b) quality (c) budget and (d) ongoing support.’’ With this in mind, LED light sources were selected, ensuring optimal energy saving measures were implemented in the school. The LED lighting to non specialist spaces was undertaken by electrical engineers Aurecon.

Electrolight's integrated lighting scheme for the atrium ensures a seamless partnership with the architecture, providing the space with a striking and functional illumination

www.electrolight.com

by dbell