Interiors
Industrial interior Paul Nulty Lighting Design (PNLD) has completed the interior lighting for the Urdang Academy using an asymmetrical application of florescent tubes and spotlights to recreate the sense of an industrial past.
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complemented this commitment to bold illustration by illuminating the screen wall to showcase the graphic, ensuring that the light fixtures are hidden to draw the focus solely onto the brand. An important part of the brief was to keep lighting installation and maintenance costs low and use durable fixtures that would survive against the vivacity of their environment. In response PNLD has utilised all low-energy luminaires with fluorescent and LEDs sources that provide longevity and durability. Claire Hamill, Lighting Designer, said: “As one of the most powerful influences on atmosphere and mood, it was crucial that the lighting concept delivered a solution that not only stimulated the students but energised them. Urdang’s brand is very clear; it is edgy and vibrant and we used this to create a lighting language that spoke to the students in a way that motivates and drives them in what they do.”
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he practice, which has a reputation for pushing the boundaries in innovative lighting concepts, was brought in by Caulder Moore who needed a lighting solution that would emphasise the school’s industrial interior through cutting edge lighting design. As part of the brief, PNLD was asked to express the school’s vibrant language through light and deliver a concept that would capture the various forms of musical and dance teaching. With contemporary, street, theatre and jazz just some of the dance taught at the school, the different musical characteristics needed to be represented through mood and atmosphere. In response, PNLD has created an illuminated representation of the flow and beat, and rise and fall of musical scores, using an irregular display of fluorescent luminaires and spotlights to convey the punctuation of dance. The lighting along the length of the corridors creates permeability, pulling students through into the main circulation zone, emphasising the sense that people are moving fluidly through the space. With Urdang’s cool and edgy East End reputation, PNLD’s lighting approach complements and highlights the raw, industrial nature of the materials used for the interior design. An illuminated mesh soffit casts dramatic shadows onto the walls, creating depth and a sense of urbanism.The strip corridor lighting channels a brightness and energy through its unpredictable layout of tubes. However, this contrasts with the sudden uniformity of the crisp 4,000K luminaires that perfectly line the soffits of each of the dance studios; this transformation from unsystematic to methodical balances the freedom of the corridor with the focus of study within the studios. With play and relaxation vital elements to support and inspire dance, the school provides ground floor, circular beds that students can step on to and lie out after a session in the studio. PNLD integrated coloured lights into the edges of these beds, drawing out the playfulness and creating warmth to encourage calm. The Urdang logo is reinforced throughout the academy and PNLD
The lighting along the length of the corridors creates permeability, pulling students through into the main circulation zone
www.paulnulty.co.uk
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PNLD has utilised all low-energy luminaires with fluorescent and LEDs sources that provide longevity and durability