XAL PABLO
This patent pending spotlight developed specifically for galleries and museums enables custom colour enhancement for paintings and sculptures. The integrated LEDs in red and blue enhance the original colour naturalness, highlighting works’ intensity and the effect of depth. The attachments can be rotated and tilted to focus light beams on selected areas. Thanks to X-TALK Technology, any smart device can be used to control track lights individually or in groups, which leads to considerable cost savings during renovations.
Bäro Ontero ID
The Ontero ID spotlight combines simple, high-quality design with cutting-edge technology. The compact dimensions, the characteristic asymmetry and the interplay of different materials give the luminaire an elegant look. The new, innovative and highly efficient LED technology with a hybrid construction ensures that the decisive part of the light reaches the target surface through the 3D silicone lens in a controlled manner via the reflector facets and produces soft, defined light cones.
MinebeaMitsumi SALIOT track light
MinebeaMitsumi’s SALIOT is the industry’s first LED track light fixture capable of automatic adjust, 10-30-degree beam spread, 360-degree horizontal rotation, 90-degree vertical adjustment, on and off switching and 1-100% dimming, all from the palm of your hand. Using a smart device-based app for iOS or Android, the one-touch controls can work for a single light or an entire linked network – up to 100 lights.
Cooledge TILE Exterior
Cooledge TILE Exterior is a wet location LED system that frees light from the constraints of fixtures to illuminate any architectural geometry and give designers new ways to accentuate building façades. Designed as a complete IP65 rated system, TILE Exterior’s modular, flexible form scales easily to cover large surface areas while a smaller set of FIT segments allow quick configuration around angles, corners and site obstacles to seamlessly illuminate exterior architectural structures.
David Morgan Review: TM Lighting TM Slim Light Pro
TM Lighting has created a niche in the world of art lighting, by venturing into the previously unexplored area of lighting private art collections. Here, David Morgan looks at the firm’s new TM Slim Light Pro.
Good quality lighting is needed to bring out the best in valuable paintings and other artwork.
While professional gallery and museum lighting is generally well considered, the lighting of artworks in private and heritage collections has until recently been fairly basic. The traditional picture light, incorporating linear incandescent or LV Xenon lamps with limited beam control, was used as a form of indirect wall light and did little to enhance the artwork. They performed quite poorly as lighting tools, producing a hot spot of light at the top of the picture and often making the frame brighter than the artwork. Little of the light ended up in the centre of the picture where it is generally most needed and the projected heat would, over time, damage sensitive pigments.
At the bottom end of the market picture lights became commodity products available at low prices through retail distribution. While more expensive picture lights incorporating halogen lamps had better light quality and beam control projecting more light towards the centre of the painting, they also projected heat and some UV radiation, both undesirable in this application.
With the fairly recent introduction of high CRI LEDs, more sophisticated and effective picture lighting systems are now becoming widely used by discerning art collectors and curators. The rise in the value of artworks has helped to justify the higher costs of better lighting equipment.
A number of UK companies have entered this market in the past decade to take advantage of the growing interest in good quality picture illumination.
TM Lighting was launched in London in 2010 by Harry Triggs and Andrew Molyneux, who had both worked in the lighting industry for a decade as lighting designer and luminaire designer for other companies. They have what they describe as ‘a passion for the art world and a mission to improve picture lighting quality’.
It would seem as though their introduction to the art lighting market came via a chance encounter with one of their early customers, who was an eccentric art dealer and collector who pretended to be a butler and introduced his picture restorer as his master. Later it transpired that he was in fact a former art dealer to Lucien Freud, and close friend of Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland. Shortly after the meeting he commissioned TM Lighting to make the first set of TM Picture lights, to light his significant collection of modern art. These were designed, manufactured and delivered within two months.
The latest picture lighting range to be launched by TM Lighting is the TM Slim Light Pro. As the name implies, this range has a smaller body than their earlier larger and more traditionally shaped products and is only 19mm in diameter.
A series of tightly binned 95 CRI LEDs fitted with lenses to give precise beam control are housed in the machined aluminium body. A wide variety of lengths and finishes are available and a simple anti-glare accessory can be fitted to cut off any stray light. The modular design is suitable for artworks from 200 to 2,000mm width, and can illuminate canvases up to 2,500mm in height. The lighting head can rotate through 60-degrees. The mounting arm fits into a holder that is generally screwed to the picture frame. The LED driver is remote and can also be fitted to the picture frame. In the sample I was shown a manual dimmer was fitted to the driver so that the light level on each picture in a space can be tuned to work with the ambient lighting and to balance the lit effect.
The demonstration luminaire lit a sample picture evenly across the whole picture surface with a good rendition of reds as would be expected with LEDs rated at 95 CRI. As the light level was dimmed down, the colour rendition quality seemed to be maintained quite well even at the lower light levels. Some competitors are offering warm to dim options in their LED picture lights, which TM Lighting consider to be inappropriate but I would think this could be a popular option for less discerning users if the ambient lighting in the space also had this feature.
TM Lighting has rapidly established itself in the world of art galleries, collectors, artists and lighting designers with a glittering client list including Antony Gormley, Damien Hurst and Conrad Shawcross.
All products are made and assembled in the UK, which enables the company to work closely with its customers to produce custom versions designed specifically for each project.
The company is now expanding into other product types for the same market with a range of high CRI LED spotlights for use in lighting three-dimensional artwork, and also for retail display applications. A variety of other custom luminaire developments based on their high CRI light engines have also been undertaken for clients.
It is encouraging to see another UK startup company carving out a successful niche in a specific area of the lighting market based on high levels of product performance, quality and customer service. I am sure the TM Slim Light Pro will be a useful addition to their range.
David Morgan runs David Morgan Associates, a London-based international design consultancy, specialising in luminaire design and development, and is also managing director of Radiant Architectural Lighting.
Email: david@dmadesign.co.uk
Web: www.dmadesign.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8340 4009
© David Morgan Associates 2017
Trilux ARAXEON LED
Today, lighting designers and electrical contractors have high demands and look for energy-efficient, application-specific planning solutions that are also simple and can be intelligently controlled. The ARAXEON LED enables the advantages of LED technology. The slender weatherproof luminaire is also intelligent: together with sensors or a light management system, practical and energy-saving functions can be implemented. The ARAXEON LED also makes full use of today’s LED technology benefits due to its modern design.
Artemide Ameluna
The Ameluna discloses an innovative optoelectronic system integrated in the transparent frame. An aluminium band that is welded with the optics, supports the LED strip. This is also hidden behind the lower profile, in order to maintain the purity of the form. The transparent body allows the light to be both direct and partially refracted. A countless number of chromatic atmospheres can be created with the use of an innovative RGBW spot.
Dean Skira
“Light is not important for architecture, but for people who live in it.” That is the view of Dean Skira, multi-award winning lighting designer and founder of Skira Architectural Lighting Design. A bold claim, particularly from someone who has made his name in illuminating buildings, but for the past 27 years, Skira has been showing that light can not only be a functional tool, but also a beautiful spectacle for viewers to enjoy.
Based in his hometown of Pula in Croatia, Skira traces his relationship with light back to the ‘vivid imagination’ that he had in his teenage years. “I installed incandescent and neon lights under my bed, lighting up the darkest corners of my room,” he recalled. “I painted the bulbs in various colours just so that I could sit there and enjoy the lighting scenes in a created ambiance. I was moving furniture, testing the space and its possibilities, choosing fabrics and so on.”
Clearly, a career in lighting, architecture and design was beckoning, and when he was in his twenties Skira moved to New York to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). A big move for the young Skira, but one that paid off, as only four years later, he had set up his own practice and become a professional member of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) of North America.
“One of my clients in New York convinced me to start my own practice and yes, it was a big challenge for me and I was afraid. I had no idea if it was going to work, but now I know that it was a good decision,” he said. “Back then, I envisioned that my career would develop in between constant travel and the drawing desk. What I didn’t know is that I would be travelling in light and walking through shadows.”
While metaphorically journeying through light and shadow, Skira’s literal travels did bring him back home to Croatia, returning to the small, northern Adriatic town of Pula in 1995. “After eight years of living and working in New York, I returned to Croatia, which at that time was struck by war,” he explained. “There was a great devastation and misery, so as a young man I started to spread the word of light when lighting was way on the margins.
“What started as design work with tangible forms has, over the past 30 years, developed into building and creating with the intangible and the ephemeral. Today I have a team of people that have been with me for many years and I consider them as an integral part of the creative process in every project that we work on.”
Skira continues to work out of his hometown of Pula to this day, with his team of fifteen designers, engineers and programmers, out of the remarkable ‘House of Light’. Built in 2006, the House of Light is an asymmetrical box that reflects the sunlight with its brilliant white walls by day, but glows in a series of bright colours by night, making it truly stand out in the Croatian landscape.
Designed by Skira himself, the building was constructed with light as a fundamental part of the architecture, so much so that Skira designed furniture with a subtle line of light included in order to fully integrate light within the building space. The impressive design of the building was, according to Skira, a vital part in showcasing his own style and understanding of light and architecture. “I needed to physically present my personal approach towards architecture, form, light and ‘design’, hoping that clients will recognise the possibility of stronger cooperation and my understanding of architectural space and ability to develop architectural details that contain a light source or lighting instrument which is properly integrated within the structure itself,” he explained.
“I think we must be able to demonstrate to our clients the technology and the tools we use, and what we are capable of doing with them. The House of Light was designed with the aim of ensuring that people in it feel good and become inspired, where the priority is always to ensure added value for our client through that synergy.”
But such an innovative and iconic headquarters is only fitting for someone who continues to do new things with light. Whether this be through his work with light fittings themselves, such as the Red Dot Award-winning Trick – a luminaire developed for iGuzzini whose main purpose, according to Skira, is not to provide general lighting or ‘mathematical requirements to illuminate space’, but is instead to create something that you can play with – or massive projects like the brilliant Lighting Giants, an installation that turned eight cranes at Uljanik Shipyard - one of the world’s oldest working shipyards - in Skira’s hometown of Pula into a giant light show, transforming these huge industrial structures into colourful recreations of their ornithological namesakes.
After years of planning, and several months of designing, assembling and testing the lighting system, the Lighting Giants were unveiled in a special ceremony in May 2014 that drew ‘thousands of people’, and the reaction from this crowd is something that Skira still holds dear. “The people fell silent, there was a complete hush,” he said.
“It’s this silence of about 15,000 people that showed up at the inauguration event when we turned on the lights that spoke the loudest about the success of the installation.
“The most valuable thing in that entire project which, in my opinion, is also a reflection of its publicly responsible design, is that people have accepted that design as their own. The people of Pula were and still are proud of the cranes, and Pula was provided with a living sculpture, classifiable among more attractive vistas in Europe and worldwide.”
This emotive reaction ties in to Skira’s philosophy of light being for the people, rather than an ‘instrument for the service of architecture’ – an approach that Skira feels should be fundamental for any lighting designer worth their salt. “I believe that every serious lighting designer is primarily considering the affect of lighting on people who are using those spaces,” he said.
“Creating positive emotions in spaces that we illuminate is the primary function of a lighting designer. Providing the utilitarian quantity of light is a process that doesn’t really depend upon creativity, it doesn’t require an artistic or philosophical approach if we just want to illuminate the space for the basic necessity to see at night.
“Light is much more than that, and with light we can transform any space in the nocturnal setting because it is the light that directly influences our perception, our spatial recognition and all other qualities of the space which can be manipulated, controlled, enhanced or ruined with light.”
Skira’s focus on the transformational ability of light, rather than the basic function of illumination that it provides, runs deep throughout his portfolio of work. While some designers may aim to create a beautiful, artistic lamp, Skira instead sees the lamp as a hidden tool, with the light itself the end result. It’s a belief that can be difficult to put into practice, as in Skira’s own words, it is almost inevitable that the source or luminaire will be visible from a certain angle, but it’s one that he tries to actualise in his work.
“I am very much into understanding the form of light that exits the luminaire, and the form of light that is projected onto the object that we are illuminating,” he explained. “My point of interest is the appearance of the object or the space, because we know that light does have a form, and it’s visible only when revealing other forms. I’m aware that most people don’t perceive light as something that does have a form, but this perception is the key ingredient of understanding the use or design of lighting instruments.”
Throughout his lighting career, spanning almost 30 years, Skira has received many accolades and awards, particularly in the past five years, where he has picked up accolades at the IALD, iF, LDA, Red Dot, Blueprint and darc awards, amongst many more. However, while there are some awards that he does hold dear – the LDA award for Lun-up back in 2012 a particular highlight, as an award for his first product design – Skira believes that winning awards isn’t the only criteria of the success of a project.
“In one of my recently shortlisted projects, I used a luminaire I designed, and translated a cultural and historical visual theme into light inside a tunnel which interconnects two continents [Tunnel Eurasia in Istanbul], I created the architectural structure with my team based on the interior lighting concept and the local traditional arc element. This structure became the visual symbol of the tunnel on a national level, was incorporated into its logo, and even became recognised by the historic heritage protection agency and became a national postage stamp motif. I do feel like a winner accomplishing all of that because of the light in just one project.
A man of many philosophies, listening to Skira talk about lighting – as he does at many events around the world, most recently at Delta Light X, an event held during this year’s Milan Design Week – is an enlightening experience, as he talks with the authority of a man who has spent nearly 30 years at the top of his industry. This is rarely more evident than when chatting about the ‘holistic and sustainable’ methodology that Skira incorporates into his work, designed to benefit both the user of the space and the surrounding area.
Here, Skira captures what may be the raison d’être for lighting designers: “Imagine being in a museum and looking at a wonderful painting, where the artist showed the perspective of the space, the colours, shadows, expressions, surrounding landscapes, maybe even buildings,” he explained.
“Those paintings are telling a story from every angle down to the smallest details. Everything is in balance, even if that painting has so many elements, they are all necessary for understanding the feeling, emotions and the message that the artist wanted to transmit through it. This is how I view our space, our environment and the ecology of all the elements in the space. Every single element in it at night viewed as a whole should bring the same feeling as viewing a good painting in a museum.”
Fluxwerx Fold
Fold is a linear pendant luminaire with minimalist, sculptural form and a unique void aperture that creates longitudinal transparency through the fixture without any horizontal or diffuse lenses.
Featuring third-generation anidolic extraction optics with low brightness and superior efficacy, the luminaire’s vertically oriented optics result in an absence of glare.
Calgary International Airport, Canada
Canadian design firm DIALOG has had a longstanding history working with the Calgary Airport Authority, completing major expansion projects to Calgary International Airport (YYC) over the last 20 years. Because of this, the company was ideally placed to join forces with AECOM for the most recent renovation scheme, planned for the international pier in the existing terminal back in 2006.
Although the project was initially only planned to be a renovation, upon reviewing passenger forecasting, project cost and construction considerations, this soon transformed into an exploration into a new terminal design and master plan to house all international and trans-border traffic.
This master plan factored in YYC’s aspirations to become a global connector for the world, along with its ambition to be highly sustainable and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designated, while connecting with the surrounding region by showcasing the iconic views of the Calgary landscape.
Doug Cinnamon, Studio Managing Principal in DIALOG’s Calgary office, has provided design leadership for numerous projects at YYC, including the recent renovation, and he revealed just how integral a role sustainability played in their plans for the new terminal.
“The initial brief for the new international terminal building encompassed a primary commitment to sustainable design,” he said. “As such, the lighting strategy developed as a requisite for a high performance building system included controlled natural lighting throughout all public areas of the building, and LED sources for artificial lighting wherever possible.”
One of the main parameters of this sustainable approach was by utilising ‘daylight harvesting’, a key energy management technique that saw DIALOG and AECOM reduce overhead lighting use. Cinnamon explained: “The ambient natural light entering the building, captured by the skylights and clearstorey, helps contribute to the use of significantly less lighting energy per square foot than the original facility.”
Indeed this harnessing of natural light, and adding more control to any artificial lighting, played a role in AECOM’s lighting design for the terminal too, as Tony Suurhoff, Senior Lead Lighting Designer at AECOM for the project, added: “The initial design approach concentrated on illuminating floating surfaces and controlling the intensities with the use of dimming control. This way we could provide two different dramatic experiences between day and night.
“During the initial stages of the project, we toured the existing airport terminal building and noticed what seemed to be missing was the lack of lighting control,” he said. “In large open areas with sufficient daylight, all of the lights seemed to be on. We discussed lighting control with the client over many months and it became clear that a non-propriety lighting control system would benefit the client in the new terminal building. From this point on, DALI control systems with daylight harvesting were integrated into the design.”
Alongside this, to control glare and reduce heat gain through the building’s extensive system of skylights, DIALOG installed an interstitial honeycomb framework, designed to eliminate direct sunlight on check-in kiosks, but still allow a direct visual connection to Calgary’s ‘big sky’ from most public places inside the terminal.
This connection to the ‘big sky’ was key for DIALOG, not only in connecting the interior of the terminal to the outside world, but also as a way of connecting with passengers travelling to and from Calgary. “The concept of natural light as an intuitive way to orient passengers through the building was a driving force for us,” Cinnamon continued.
“We designed skylight openings in three-dimensional truss elements as a typical detail. The bays between trusses then became an ideal place for wood ceiling systems to house strips of artificial LED lighting.
“The structural span was designed in the same general direction as the path of travel through the building, from check-in through security to the centralised hold room area to create a language of lighting that works with the structural grid of the building.”
Suurhoff added: “Both the architectural design and the lighting design work harmoniously together to bring out a clear and decisive theme throughout the terminal. The primary objective of which was to be linear, sleek and minimal in size. The wood ceilings added warmth and natural beauty to the spaces, while the lighting design worked very well in providing areas of transition in low level lighting, giving a relaxed feeling.”
As well as making the most out of natural light and installing LED lighting where possible, the entire project, and all design decision-making aspects, were deeply rooted in a commitment to sustainability and passenger comfort, as the project employs lighting as part of an integrated, high performance architecture, tying it to the building envelope and mechanical systems.
However, doing so presented DIALOG with some issues; as the new lighting system was designed as an integral part of the architectural and mechanical systems, lighting control, and its relationship with building management systems in the terminal, posed a slight challenge to the firm. However, from optimised profiling of louvre shades that track the sun, to temperature-based override of localised blinds to avoid overheating in occupied areas of the building, careful planning in the hierarchy of information proved critical in bringing balance to the internal environment.
Elsewhere, the project required an array of lighting requirements, which again threw up some unexpected issues that needed overcoming, as Cinnamon explained: “In order to meet the wide-ranging lighting requirements within the terminal, our design strategy included repetitive elements, such as the integration of skylights with the repetitive cadence of the structure. This provides natural and artificial light to illuminate main open areas of the space.
“While this creates a comfortable and engaging environment for passengers, it does come with challenges, such as potential glare on check-in kiosk screens, retail environments with their own lighting strategies, and legibility of way finding systems,” he continued. “As these elements shifted through the design and construction process, we had to be agile and creative to satisfy requirements on a unique case-by-case basis.”
This flexibility across the entire process meant that DIALOG was able to overcome these issues, while still remaining true to the core sustainable principles that were in place at the start of the project. For instance, such sustainability was maintained, as steady state heating and cooling systems within the terminal are protected by double wall glazing façades, which help to prevent large swings in temperature within the main, occupied areas of the building. As Cinnamon elaborated: “These façades house operable louvre systems that shade from glare and heat gain. This approach also optimises reflected light deep into spaces of the building, thereby reducing the amount of artificial light energy required.”
For AECOM, the main issues came with the sheer size of the project, as Suurhoff explained: “The scale was the most challenging aspect for us. However, when we broke the facility down into manageable parts, through the course of approximately eighteen months, we had the design virtually complete.
“Then we revisited the design and product selection. As the LED technology market was changing at a rapid pace some of the initial product was either no longer available or had transformed into more efficient lighting modules, which in turn gave us more flexibility in lumen output, while decreasing the electrical load,” again, tying into the overarching theme of sustainability, and helping to create the kind of welcoming environment that AECOM were eager to achieve.
This is something that Suurhoff feels was essential from the get-go, and he was pleased to see this come to fruition in the end result. “The lighting in the building’s public spaces offers a calming effect, as airport terminals tend to have a higher public anxiety level than any other transportation facility. Because of this, it was deemed important to create that effect,” he said.
Alongside this calming atmosphere, Suurhoff believes that AECOM and DIALOG have combined to create an outstanding space for travellers. “The integration of the skylights, wood ceiling panels and irregular linear lighting slots gives the Arrivals and Departures hold rooms a feeling of awe, with the vastness of the space created.”
By striving for a strong connection with the outside world, creating the aforementioned feeling of awe, and harnessing the power of natural light throughout the terminal, Cinnamon added that the building enclosure itself could have been considered as a lighting element from the very beginning. “It mediates light in a dynamic way, encourages intuitive way finding for passenger flow, and allows views to the airfield and surrounding mountains, allowing passengers to immediately orient themselves upon arriving in Calgary.”
What this means is that the new terminal perfectly ties into YYC’s initial design brief and the two major themes that were paramount within this: intrinsic sustainability and regional connectivity, with a new lighting strategy that leads all design initiatives.
General Motors Design Dome, USA
Originally opened in 1956, the General Motors Design Dome, designed by Eero Saarinen in collaboration with Richard Kelly, has long been classed as a ‘legendary corporate masterpiece of planning and design’.
Based in Warren, Michigan, the large indoor viewing auditorium was first constructed to give the designers the opportunity to view their designs in an open space, regardless of the weather. The 180ft diameter domed space was traditionally indirectly lit with the intention ‘to provide a shadow-less environment for the evaluation of form and finish of the vehicles’. Since its inception more than 60 years ago, it has become an iconic piece of automotive design that organisations around the world have imitated for facilities of their own.
However, renovation was needed as General Motors sought to enhance the relevance of this impressive structure as an evaluation and presentation centre for critiquing, presenting and displaying the next generation of automotive product design.
SmithGroupJJR, a Detroit, Michigan-headquartered architecture and engineering firm with offices across the US and China, and a staff of more than 1100, was brought in to carry out the renovation. In its work the firm pays homage to the collaboration of Saarinen and Kelly, while bringing the landmark of classic '50s design into the modern era.
According to Rodrigo Manriquez, Principal Lighting Designer at SmithGroupJJR, early work on the renovation began in 2008, although this was put on hold during the auto industry downturn. The project began in earnest in 2012 though as GM Global Industrial Design shared its initial concept and strategy with all collaborative partners. “This work helped define the lighting objectives and fundamental goals,” said Manriquez. “The initial goal was to reduce the level of manual labour needed to adjust the lighting.”
The design team at SmithGroupJJR set out to modernise the facility, but to do so in a manner to complement Saarinen’s original details. This meant that the walnut wood panelling, stainless steel and aluminium used in the original design were continued throughout the renovation.
However, incorporating these new technologies into the original structure while causing as little disruption as possible was not without its issues, as Manriquez elaborated: “Integrating the additional lighting systems into the existing historical architectural envelope did pose a challenge for us. But by being sensitive in our detail execution, we were able to counter this.”
During the renovation project, the team transformed the dome’s technology and controllability, re-engineering a 20-year-old system to meet the strict styling requirements that General Motors had for the dome. The outcome implements programmable layers that indirectly render a shadow-free envelope, while directly accenting vehicles with finely-tuned light spectrums.
The 180ft diameter dome can be transformed through automated scenes for a variety of occasions, including new prototype unveilings, charity events and staff gatherings, while the new, entirely LED system has been designed to aid automotive design for the next 50 years, thanks to improved agility, efficiency and sustainability.
Implementing this new lighting system was done with the slightest possible intervention – the main lighting ring in the centre of the dome was replaced with a new ring of fully adjustable, fully programmable, iPad-controlled white/RGB LED lighting.
Again, the expanded diversity of equipment required for the new dome, particularly the need for speakers and projectors alongside the lighting on the suspended central design ring, caused a few issues for SmithGroupJJR, but as Manriquez explained: “We developed and implemented a modular approach to organise systems based on their architectural cadence and display locations.”
The ring also required special attention in order to address the additional load placed upon it while minimising any potential movement due to the introduction of new motorised lighting systems, and existing structural members dictated architectural opportunities to mount new systems.
The renovation of the dome leveraged colour to activate the architectural layers and capitalise on the building’s rich textural metal wall. Cove mounted RGB linear indirect systems infuse the ‘corporate blue’, expand the perimeter viewing platform, and allow clear definition of the impressive dome ceiling and surrounding areas.
In display mode, the motorised RGBW LED directional sources provide the spectrally tunable 750lx needed to create adequate contrast while showcasing the vehicle’s particular finish within a saturated, coloured visual environment.
Indeed, some of the key considerations for the new lighting system centred around the ‘stance’ of each vehicle on show, as Manriquez explained: “Indirect lighting had to balance the existing materials, target luminance and target illuminance in the dome. We designed and achieved a 2:1 luminance ratio with an average of 150cd/sqm and 300lx at the floor.
“Elsewhere we utilised 3D reflection studies to ensure a mitigation of the reflected environment on the property, while under direct lighting operations the motorised fixtures were assessed with performance and cost consideration. The performance requirements were additive colour fidelity despite environmental colour saturation of the dome (e.g. a red car must look red, even in a blue environment), redundancy and controls.”
Manriquez added that General Motors and SmithGroupJJR collaborated through a mock-up on site to determine best illuminance/luminance levels based on precedent operations, aiming strategies and colour tuning of the proposed LED system.
Indeed, this collaboration proved essential in the early stages of the project, as understanding the metrics to light the property under different assessment conditions (i.e. direct and indirect lighting) did prove a challenge for SmithGroupJJR. However, by leveraging an on-site mock-up of the new system and watching it work, the team were able to iron out any issues.
In fact, GM Global Industrial Design consulted and collaborated throughout the whole process, mocking up real use cases to establish the requirements that drove the specifications. The GM team worked with partners throughout the whole project to help share understanding of the necessary level of theatricality, and the fundamentals of lighting vehicles.
More creative and expedient user programming has also been encouraged in the Design Dome with the installation of 40 DMX universes. This has further added to the colour fidelity as the flexibility of the DMX controls enable the show directors at the Dome to ‘spike the hue’ of a saturated yellow car in contrast to other monochromatic cars that appear to fade into the background. Colour as the ‘primary conductor’ establishes hierarchy and sequencing for viewing every scene. This new theatrical system also provides an energy saving of 36%.
It is the introduction of these DMX universes that has enabled those at the Dome to fine-tune their lighting displays and expand the capabilities of the building. Manriquez continued: “Redundant RGB cove integration into the DMX control platform has expanded the space’s capabilities as an event showroom, while directional motorised fixtures with DMX control of aiming location, beam angle, intensity and colour allowed multiple lighting criteria to be achieved with just one system.
“DMX controls enable designers to tweak RGB channels of spectrally tunable RGBW LEDs to counter coloured fill light so vehicle finishes appear as they would in a white environment. As appropriate quantities of fully automated fixtures were also optimally located to light multiple configurations of property display and other functions.”
The end result is a stunning structure that, while paying tribute to the original work of Saarinen and Kelly, has been brought firmly into the modern era. Looking like something out of a James Bond movie, the Dome is the perfect blend of classic and modern design.
That said the project threw a few curveballs at SmithGroupJJR with regards to working within the constraints of an existing historic structure, the technically complex, multiple program criteria of the brief and the difficulty of lighting the reflective, metallic car finish. Manriquez added that if they could have changed anything about the project, they would have added more redundancy to the systems to allow for growth of display options. But overall, he and his SmithGroupJJR team are pleased with the outcome.
“The Design Dome is a grand space worthy of pause and recognition as it is the mecca of design for this organisation. We are honoured to be able to enhance that notion.
“Reverence to the modernist evolution of the space relies on understanding and solving dualities: unity with variation, modern but not inexplicable, consistency without boredom, seriousness without pedantry, and function with playfulness.
“We feel that we achieved a balance of two critical considerations: the respectful posture toward Saarinen’s original design and the need to move the space into the next 50 years of operations. We were sensitive to the classical historical materials that remained as clear legacy items of modern architecture.
“The essence of the Design Dome will allow the character of the space to morph based on its current and future function. 1950's property assessment will shift to enveloping hues, horizon lines will mutate through reflections, and the automobile will reclaim centre stage.”
Dresden New Town Hall, Germany
As the city of Dresden sought to illuminate the historic, neo-renaissance New Town Hall among its famous skyline, it turned to Studio DL, whose introduction of warm white light helped bring this landmark building to the fore.
With its historic tower, Dresden’s New Town Hall is a key component of the city’s famous historical silhouette. The four to five-storey, sandstone-clad building is a Neo-Renaissance blend of Neo-Art Nouveau and Neo-Baroque, capturing the rediscovery of Dresden as a baroque city during the time of its construction in the early 1900's.
Designed in 1901 by Karl Roth, the Rathaus boasts an impressive total area of 13,000sqm and was built under the guidance of Stadtbaurat Edmund Bräter and Karl Roth between 1905 and 1910. Roth landed the job after winning an architectural competition for the design of a new town hall due to a lack of space in the old town hall.
Alongside five courtyards, the building features a 100-metre high tower (the Rathausturm), atop of which stands the golden ‘Rathausmann’ – a sculpture that symbolises the Protection patron of Hercules, who points across the city with his right arm, and pours the cornucopia across the city with his left arm.
However, after Dresden was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, with the town hall in particular being badly damaged, reconstruction of the building began in 1948. This reconstruction saw the installation of the statue of the Trümmerfrau – a tribute to the women who moved the millions of tons of debris after the war – which has been standing in front of the Rathaus since 1952.
The Goldene Pforte was also restored during the reconstruction; this consists of four golden plated doors with two bronze lions in front of them. After the war, several coats of arms of cities that had experienced similar damage to Dresden during the conflict were installed on the façade of the town hall.
Since 1979, the New Town Hall has been regarded as a monument to urban development and architecture, while also serving as a monument to reconstruction. This means that any further work on the building instead acts as a revitalisation, in which the historic fabric of the building is only changed as far as monument protection would allow, while still catering for modern usage purposes.
Planning for the latest ‘revitalisation’ of the town hall began in the summer of 2009, as it was determined that this unique building in the landscape of Dresden, with its exposed location, needed a superior lighting plan. Architecture firm Winkels, and its partner International Light Architects had previously created a lighting master plan in 2008, which gave Studio DL guidelines for light colour and intensity when it came to their planning for a new lighting system.
While analysing this lighting masterplan, it was realised that previously, the New Town Hall was not visible in the city’s historic skyline at night. Because of this, the plans recommended a warm light colour for the façades of the building, predominantly made of locally sourced Elbe sandstone. As the structure of the building from the viewpoint of the nearby Elbe River was already composed in the initial masterplan, the city’s planning office then described the front façade of the building as ‘the most important view’, and ordered a new lighting design.
Upon being given the task of constructing a new lighting design for the building, Studio DL first refined and expanded the simplified 3D model of the city to design the draft. In this, they were able to adapt the textures and rework the façade, meaning that mounting positions, intensities and aesthetics could therefore be shown, discussed and coordinated in the 3D model. After a few appointments, the committee at the city planning office agreed to Studio DL’s draft.
The hall’s new lighting was coordinated with the Office for the Protection of Historic Buildings, and it has been designed to emphasise the structure of the building, with the lighting far from the building maintained for the large roof surfaces. The windows of the banquet hall have been designed with cold-white LEDs in order to accentuate the individual window cassettes with different light tones. The wide array of details on the front façade that needed to be highlighted did present Studio DL with some issues, however, the extensive prep work involved with the 3D models meant that any challenges were easily managed.
Elsewhere, the lights of the arcades were renovated, illuminating the base of the building in a warm, atmospheric white light. This inviting lighting complements the golden colour of the doors of the Goldene Pforte, designed by Karl Groß.
The tower of the town hall (the Rathausturm) was set up with the latest lighting technology, while the clock backlighting was also renewed. Since the side façades are less integral to the building’s appearance on the city’s skyline, only the balconies and protrusions were staged here. Masts remote from the building also brightened the façade.
The outcome of the revitalisation of the New Town Hall, carried out in cooperation with ILB Dr Rönitzsch, who was responsible for supervising construction and the implementation of the project, is that the building can now clearly be perceived in the city’s skyline at night, while the structure and architectural atmosphere of the building is elaborated from a close view.