project
“A continuous band of cool white light picks out the distinctive shapes of the building, wraps around it and dissolves into darkness and ambient luminance.” Thanos Danilof, Danilof light + visual perception studio
“The architects were concerned on how the characteristic shape of the façade they designed, the continuity of its form, the sharpness
and the curvilinearity are going to be perceptible at night,” Danilof added.
As such, he and his design studio decided that its lighting design concept would be to make the façade appear “self-luminous:
homogenous and clear”, with a pure white illumination that would
allow the structural form of the building to “shimmer” over the dark, reflective glazing. “A continuous band of cool white light picks out
the distinctive shape of the building, wraps around it and dissolves into darkness and ambient luminance,” Danilof explained.
As the concept grew and evolved, Danilof decided that the interior lift lobby areas – the visible “spine” of the building – would be revealed in a welcoming, warmer tone. “At ground level, warm light would
delineate the sculptural qualities of the landscape, while cool white light would accentuate the olive trees,” he continued.
“A subtle note would also be introduced by the delicate shadows cast by façade plants on each level, that would move gently as they get caught in the night breeze.”
Danilof decided very early on to specify lighting at 4000K MacAdam step 2 for the façade illumination, for a strict, pure white
consistency, while all interior areas were kept at 3000K or less in
order to have a colour contrast at all times. Further to this, interior
office lighting has been set to automatically switch off after business hours, and the dark reflective glazing contributes to an even higher
contrast while allowing for visually interesting reflections. Because of these measures, with CCT contrast, the lighting designers didn’t
need to use higher lighting levels in order to bring out the form of the façade and visually separate the interior volume and the glazing.
However, as the studio approached the detailed design stage, it faced Each stratum of the façade contains a continuous planter for flowers and other organics that are partly illuminated, casting complex shadows onto the soffit above.
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some challenges, as Danilof explained: “Ideally, as a design
principle, in order to have an even, homogenous wash on the façade, we wanted to keep the same projection geometry throughout the
