22 Lighting Application Center
Light is easier to change than furniture, and provides an excellent way of introducing a variety that feels novel forever.
It was important, he believes, not only to have beautiful and special lighting effects in the atrium plan for 2015, but also to have effects that changed over time. Research shows that, however wonderful their surroundings, people quickly become accustomed to them and cease to notice them. Light is easier to change than furniture, and provides an excellent way of introducing a variety that feels novel forever. ‘We had two main stories,’ Rieck explained. ‘One was about a clearing in a forest. We wanted to feel as if the light was filtering through trees. We asked Philips, ‘can you do this?’. We said that what we wanted was that the light should create a volume of space. We also developed an idea of golden light – of warmth combined with the fact that the sun creates our sense of time.
‘Unfortunately, when you are in a building, you have often forgotten about this. So we created a very strong changing light in the atrium.’ This means that typically there is a ‘sunrise’ about three or four times a day – not with an artificial sun but with the light effect that a real one would bring. So how it will be achieved? At the centre of the atrium will be a huge light sculpture that consists of some 1500 panels suspended from the ceiling. A reflective surface on the back of each panel creates a play of light and shadow. On the front, one third are LED controlled panels and the others are special acoustic ceiling panels that give out light.