Matt Waring

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, UK

Lighting designers at 18 Degrees created a unified, seamless lighting scheme for leading legal firm Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer’s new Bishopsgate headquarters.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Freshfields), is one of the world’s leading legal practices and a member of the prestigious ‘Magic Circle’ of London-based solicitors. The company has recently relocated its headquarters, moving from Fleet Street to a new development at 100 Bishopsgate in the City of London.

Lighting designers at 18 Degrees worked closely with interior architects ID:SR to develop the lighting strategy for both the front and back of house areas of the new workspace, spanning 15 storeys.

Paul Beale, Co-Founder of 18 Degrees told arc about the collaborative nature of the project. “ID:SR are not restrictive in their work. They don’t say ‘we want you to use this light in this place’, instead they told us what they were trying to achieve with the space – the look, the feel, the type of people using the space – and asked us to instruct them on what was needed. When your collaborators think that way, it always leads to the best outcomes.”

The collaborative approach in the design led to a lighting system that sits in harmony with the wider interior design, forming a part of a visual journey that takes visitors from the reception spaces through to the client-facing areas, the practice floors and back of house areas.

Beale continued: “The spaces had to make sense visually, when you go from the reception, right through the journey of the building. Lighting had to support and reinforce that concept.”

While light was used as a wayfinding, navigational tool within the building, 18 Degrees also aimed to create a comfortable environment for the office workers. Maria Favoino, lighting designer at 18 Degrees, explained: “We wanted to make sure that they were happy with the light levels, because some of the client staff still work with paper documents and spend a lot of time reading. Within the mock-up stages, we took inspiration from volumes of light. We studied the different layers of light, and established that it couldn’t just be downlighting; we had to do something more that would give us diffuse light, and different options for people.

“There were daylighting studies looking at how we could implement different layers of light – not just with a table lamp, for instance, but maybe with an uplit element too. The central part was defining the user of the space, and at the same time creating this wayfinding element to help them to the coffee point or the break areas, for example. It was also important that these spaces have a different level of light, to give the user the feeling of being in a different space, taking a break from work.”

“That sort of fluidity in terms of how a space can be adapted to different uses throughout the day, that’s why those layers of light are built in,” Beale added. “It might be an uplight, or light directed at the wall, or table lamps, as well as the standard lamps that come from above. 

“It’s a lighting scheme designed for people. We didn’t look at it with the approach of getting 300-500lx on the desks. No one talked about lux levels. The conversations were all about how it has to feel, who is going to be using the space, how they arrive at the building and what that journey is.”

Taking a special focus on the people using the space also led to a number of challenges for the lighting designers, because of the wide scope of people working for Freshfields. Beale continued: “We’re catering to everyone from fresh-faced graduates who might be 21-22, through to some of the partners who may be in their mid to late 70s. As our eyes degrade and our eyesight deteriorates with age, how do you light a space that caters for a 78 year old that isn’t going to be too bright for the 22 year old?

“We had to cater to a really wide range of demographics within the same space. That led to sophisticated controls, and then the challenge was how we do sophisticated controls without a massive, complicated control panel. We had to keep it simple.”

To do so, 18 Degrees managed the various layers of light through the lighting control system. This included the introduction of elements such as presence detectors and daylight sensors linking to the window blinds, which in turn resulted in a more simplified control system for the end users. “A lot of elements don’t need to engage with an interface if you’ve got an inherently tunable system,” Beale continued. “And then the fine grain control can come from the users. If it’s arranged in such a way then the interface with the user can be something really simple, and that’s what we’ve got here.”

While the increased controllability aids staff wellbeing, the project has also been carefully planned to minimise its environmental impact too. Freshfield’s tenancy is powered from 100% renewable energy, and the LED system and associated controls helped the project to achieve a BREEAM Excellent sustainability rating. The new fitout has also resulted in a 30% energy saving compared to Freshfield’s previous location.

And Beale believes that the decision to use top quality fixtures helped in achieving this status. “We’ve got really good quality lights in there. The light within the space has a very high colour rendering, etc. You walk into the space and one of the first things that you notice is that the colours are really vibrant. Because of that we didn’t need to put too much light into the space to make it feel well lit.

“Sometimes, projects that have an environmental agenda can tend to feel gloomy, or like they’re trying a little bit too hard, and as a result you don’t end up with a very nice space. Here, you walk into the space and think “wow, this is a really nicely lit environment”.”

The high quality architectural fixtures throughout are offset by a range of beautiful decorative pieces, from large pendants in meeting rooms to striking chandeliers in the reception spaces. This again was built on a strong collaborative relationship between 18 Degrees and ID:SR.

“It was a real collaboration between the interior designers and ourselves. Fortunately, they have a superb design sensibility.” said Beale. “We’ve got a custom Roll & Hill pendant in one of the meeting rooms, which is more of a sculpture. It’s just incredible. We’ve got a few really beautiful signature pieces like that throughout.”

Favoino added: “We always collaborated and selected items based on what the space would be used for, what team would be working there, etc. The interior designers were always open to our suggestions. They were also really careful about the materials as well. There were metallic finishes in some areas, while in others it was softer. It was always in balance with what was surrounding it – the carpet on the floor, etc.”

To allow the decorative flourishes to take centre stage, 18 Degrees opted for more hidden, recessed architectural fixtures – a combination of spotlights, downlights and linear track fittings provide the ambient lighting throughout.

“We hid so many lights, for instance in the meeting rooms there is a blackout blind and then a sheer hanging down. There are concealed lights behind the sheer curtain tracks; all you see is a wonderful glow to the drapes. You can’t see the light fittings, but you get this beautiful effect. This was just one of the layers that we introduced into the scene within that room to give the client the flexibility to use it for a whole range of different functions.”

The use of hidden lighting elements is also on show at the striking central staircase. A huge, spiral structure connecting the client-facing floors, the staircase is one of the highlights within the workspace, but rather than shine a spotlight on it, 18 Degrees opted for a more subtle approach, illuminating it with recessed handrail lighting, courtesy of The Light Lab.

“The staircase was a key part of the project, and a combined effort from all parties,” Favoino continued. “The architect wanted to create this sculptural element between the client floors. We thought about how we could highlight this in a soft way, and decided to just use handrail lighting.”

Beale added: “It’s one of the main focal points of the space. I don’t think there is any one singular focal point, instead there are a whole series of moments, but that’s certainly one of the highlights.”

While many projects of this type may employ the services of a lighting designer for the front of house, client-facing areas, a more integrated approach was taken for Freshfields, with 18 Degrees delivering lighting in all spaces. This enabled a seamless visual transition between the spaces, acknowledging that the staff are the company’s most valuable asset and linking their work environment with their wellbeing.

Beale explained how the lighting provides a sense of connection throughout the building: “There is a consistency in terms of colour temperature and quality of light, colour rendering, etc, but within that, there’s scope for varying the intensity of light to suit the operation and the mood of the space, whether it’s a reception space, a dining room, a room for video conferencing, or circulation on the stairs.

“Each of those spaces can have its own personality and some might be lit from overhead, some might be lit more with lamps, and then spaces for video conferencing become a bit more technical with a higher degree of control. But there is a consistency with the colour temperature and quality of fittings.”

The level of consistency that a more integrated approach brings to the project is something that Beale believes makes it stand out as a piece of architectural lighting design, not least because it allowed his team to truly make a difference, whereas in other, less coherent projects, that may not have been possible.

“One of the best things about this project has been that we were able to design the lighting not just for the front of house, but to the wider space,” he concluded.

“The reason that we get out of bed in the morning is to try and make a difference through our work. You can only make a marginal difference if you’re lighting a space that someone is going to walk through for 25 seconds to then sit at a desk where they don’t see that light again until they go home.

“We had the privilege of lighting spaces that people are going to experience day in and day out throughout their careers, ranging from the very young to the very old. That is so rare as a specialist lighting consultant, and that was the highlight of the project, for me, being able to make a difference across such a vast scope.”

www.18degs.com

by Matt Waring

100 Liverpool Street, UK

Speirs Major has created a striking lighting scheme for the 100 Liverpool Street retail and office redevelopment in London, characterised by one of the UK’s largest bespoke chandeliers, The Cloud.

Achieving a BREEAM Outstanding rating, the 100 Liverpool Street large-scale flexible retail and office redevelopment is the latest stunning project to join the esteemed profile of lighting design for Speirs Major. 

Located adjacent to Liverpool Street Station and its future Crossrail Station in London, 100 Liverpool Street underwent an extensive strip-out, rebuild and extension to provide a sustainably-constructed, 48,300sqm, lettable office space. 

Speirs Major worked closely with Hopkins Architects and interior designers Universal Design Studio (UDS) to conceive the lighting scheme for the vast space, including, arguably, the UK’s largest chandelier constructed to date, dubbed The Cloud. 

The UK-based lighting designers developed the lighting schemes for external after-dark identity, ground floor and mezzanine retail arcades, office entrance lobbies, roof terraces, the second-floor lobby and atrium, as well as shared amenities such as the atrium stair, bike store, changing rooms and WCs. 

arc caught up with Senior Partner of Speirs Major, Mark Major, to discuss the lighting journey for the expansive building. “We were initially approached by British Land to bid for the project. 100 Liverpool Street was the first project in Broadgate that we worked on, but since then we have prepared a full site-wide strategy and we are working on several other projects, including 1 Broadgate with AHMM, and Exchange Square with DSDHA,” he said of winning the project opportunity. 

“We were given an outline brief through a schedule of areas and scope, but the specifics of the lighting brief were developed collaboratively between ourselves, British Land, Hopkins Architects and UDS, allowing for a more flexible and creative approach.” 

The ground floor Octagon Mall retail arcade also serves as an important east-west circulatory route, linking the station, Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate, and Broadgate Circle. Enhanced by the soft reflections of shoppers and the sinuous geometry of the lighting channels, the ceiling design encourages a gentle flow of movement. This is achieved by crafting a balance of brightness, which manages any contrast when moving between inside and outside, while also ensuring the retail frontages have prominence. 

Major explained: “The project can be viewed as two distinct parts – the retail arcade connecting to the wider public realm, and the office development. For the retail space, the lighting narrative concerns creating a sense of flow – supporting intuitive wayfinding between Liverpool Street Station, Broadgate Circle and 1 Broadgate (in the future), while amplifying the presence of the retail offer within the arcade. The office project also has an element of flow – we considered what the journeys that people make through the buildings should feel like and, in line with the architectural and interior design approach, we focused on creating great atmosphere in the ‘public’ spaces that would support a buzzing, social, collaborative environment.

“The lighting supports the experience of these journeys, which can vary depending on the mode of arrival (e.g., by train, tube, foot, bicycle) and the mood and motivation of the individual – busy and focused or meandering, browsing, socialising, etc. We designed the lighting to describe and enhance these journeys, visually defining and connecting spaces and areas, and building in moments of dwell. We have a lot of experience with this type of lighting – airports, public realm spaces, galleries – as with this project, for all these the lighting of circulation is hugely important and often underrated.”

Two entrance lobbies, to the south and north, provide access to the office space. In each a wash of light onto key vertical surfaces supports a strong external identity while promoting legibility and wayfinding. Highlights to artwork, furniture, and planting contribute a warm ambience, while the distinctive pendants chosen in collaboration with UDS provide a sense of human scale and essential task lighting. Lighting is also integrated into the handrails of the escalators, which avoids problematic maintenance and provides additional visual cues that aid in wayfinding. 

Upstairs, the second-floor lobby and atrium hold the main reception, café, informal meeting, and flexible working areas. Again, highlights are added to selected vertical surfaces, reinforcing the clear legibility and wayfinding. Appropriate ambiences are achieved with further task and feature lighting pieces in zoned areas, such as the reception desk, seating areas and workstations. 

“Architecturally speaking, we considered how we would address each space, defining zones, and revealing materials, textures, and colours. For the second-floor lobby, light to the perimeter helps define the boundaries, making the spaces more legible and creating a sense of depth,” said Major. “The atrium required special consideration, with its bold conical shape, vast size, dramatic exposed staircase, and the multiple viewpoints from the offices. Having had the experience of hanging lighting objects within large voids in a number of projects over the years, we knew that this could bring several benefits. By creating a point of reference, hanging an object in such a space can both provide a sense of human scale, while also emphasising the grandness/volume. From a practical point of view, it also puts the light where you need it.” 

The hanging object referenced here by Major is thought to be the largest chandelier ever constructed in the UK, known as The Cloud. 

“We started by sketching some ideas, and as a design team settled on having just one large object, rather than a series of objects – a clean, simple, and practical solution that could be executed at the right scale. In fact, the geometry of the piece is entirely derived from the architecture, considering elements such as the cladding grid,” explained Major. 

“We also needed to consider practical issues such as the impact of the hanging points on the cleaning cradles. So, in terms of form, size and disposition, the form evolved to perfectly occupy the exact space it needed to. We conceived of the design as a simple ring from which we would hang blades that reflect and soften the light from a series of downlights, the latter providing the functional and ambient light to the atrium below. The blades draw on the language of materials that Hopkins and UDS used in the architectural cladding and interior design – light coloured perforated metal with softly curved edges – ensuring that the chandelier also visually belongs to the building. 

“There is a similar language in the materials used for the illuminated ceiling in the café bar, which also features tuneable white light, helping to tie the spaces together and enhancing the sense of design cohesion. The design was modelled extensively in 3D and mock-ups, testing various designs of blades to create the soft, light, cloud-like effect we wanted.” 

“Because of the dual nature of the blade (one side matte, one side reflective) the effect reads slightly differently depending on which way round you walk – a nod to the natural variation of a cloud. And, if you look closely, the perforations in the blades create an interference pattern that scatters light and creates further ‘cloud-like’ textures – so essentially more clouds within the cloud. Bringing this hugely ambitious idea to reality required a huge amount of work and collaboration within the design team and with the manufacturing partner, Stoane Lighting, and a corresponding amount of bravery from the client. But it has become a very important part of the signature of the building, and it truly brings something very special to the space.”

Continuing higher into the building, the top five floors include setback offices, which open out onto a series of outdoor planted terraces and amenity spaces. Soft lighting within the planting and under the soffit accentuates the textures and helps to soften the indoor/outdoor transitions, supporting safe and easy circulation. The low-level exterior light also supports views out through the glazing from the office interiors and spectacular views from the terraces out across the city, with minimal lighting pollution. 

Despite not being directly involved in the lighting for the office spaces here, Major spoke of an evolution her perceives in the lighting of workplaces generally. He said: “Trends that had already begun to emerge, such as increased focus on employee wellbeing and staff retention have been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Having worked at home for many months, people are keen to retain some of the advantages of increased flexibility (i.e., not being tied to a desk). Interestingly, it seems to be the social aspect of work that is drawing people back, so more fluidity in layouts, more breakout and social spaces, access to natural light, and biophilic design approaches are coming to the fore. For all these aspects, lighting has a huge role to play – supporting the design of workplaces that people will want to return to. In this sense, the design for the communal spaces for 100 Liverpool Street has proved incredibly forward thinking in its design.” 

Overall, the project was such a success for all those involved due to the close working relationships between all parties. Major concluded: “It was certainly an ambitious project but highly rewarding. Just the chandelier design and the feature lighting for the bar/café area would be considered ambitious in their own right, but the attention to detail stretches much further right across the whole project, from details like the swept up the plaster cones for the downlights that soften their effect across the ceiling to the clean integration of the linear channel lighting that grazes the walls at the perimeter – each aspect had its own design challenges.

“What made this project so satisfying though, was the level of collaboration between the members of the team, and the engagement and support of the client. That gave us the confidence throughout the project that our ideas would be listened to, and once agreed, we would get the support to see them properly delivered. 

“We see it as one of the great workplace projects we have completed, both in terms of ambition and execution.”

www.smlightarchitecture.com

by Matt Waring

600 West Chicago, USA

Lighting designers at Schuler Shook played an integral role in the redevelopment of Sterling Bay’s 600 West Chicago office building, creating a bright and lively space for its tech clients to meet and interact.

Twenty years ago, Chicago’s historic Montgomery Ward catalogue building was redeveloped into a tech destination known as 600 West Chicago. Now, under Sterling Bay ownership, the property has received the WELL Health-Safety Rating and has been transformed again to meet the unique needs of today’s workforce. 600 West Chicago features an expanded retail experience to serve both tenants and surrounding neighbours, modernised tenant amenities, updated interiors, and a renewed focus on accessing the outdoors. 

The team at lighting design studio Schuler Shook played a pivotal role in the building’s most recent transformation, brought onboard by the project’s architect Lamar Johnson Collaborative (LJC). Asked to review the lighting design and validate the ideas developed up to that point, Schuler Shook soon found that the lighting design was going to become a more significant component for the project.

“When we joined the design team, they had finished the schematic design phase and were preparing to provide an update to the client for the design development phase,” said Laura Román, Senior Lighting Designer at Schuler Shook. “At this point, we were able to review their progress, conduct lighting calculations for the concepts suggested and provide new lighting design ideas. We also participated in the client presentation to obtain the owner’s approval of the design.

“The interior designers – Charlie Green Studio – came to the table with specific concepts in many areas, which we then confirmed and developed. The overriding narrative was to provide a bright space, with visual clarity and visually stimulating lighting with attractive decorative features.”

One of the main challenges of this project was to transform the lobby and adjacent spaces of the warehouse into bright, invigorating, and comfortable areas that felt open and easy to navigate. This approach was required to facilitate the flow of almost 7,000 people a day that pass through the 21,380sqft lobby to work in the multiple technology companies such as Groupon, Uptake, Tempus, and Big10 Network, that are housed in the building. 

The huge oculus in the lobby at 600 West Chicago is a key focus of the space and an area that Schuler Schook was heavily involved with. 

The design team wanted to highlight a sculptural mobile that features in the space, with fixtures located at the perimeter of the oculus opening. However, according to Román the team was struggling with fixture placement, considering it produced glare from the various viewing angles. “One idea discussed was to graze the vertical fade of the oculus. This approach was discarded as it would have required introducing a cove at the bottom of the oculus to conceal the fixture. 

“While reviewing the renderings, an inspiration came to mind, ‘what about making the vertical face of the oculus the lighting element in itself?’ We discussed the benefits of using a back-lit tensile fabric as a means of providing a soft glow to accentuate the sculptural mobile without hot spots or any glare concerns. The whole team was excited about exploring this solution. 

“The next step was to conduct several mock-ups. This is where the idea came to fruition successfully, making it one of the most visually captivating features of the space,” continued Román. “The luminous membrane also contributed to the acoustic absorption of the space, which was an added benefit.”

In terms of lighting levels achieved by the illuminated oculus, a 40-fc average was provided using a low output LED matrix concealed six inches behind the membrane. The LED system was dimmed throughout the day to match the daylight levels penetrating the space via the skylight above and adjacent lobby windows. The colour temperature of choice for the oculus LED system was static 3500K, as tuneable white was cost-prohibitive. 

In terms of key architectural lighting considerations on this project, there were several concerns the designers had to keep in mind throughout. The existing lobby had very dark finishes and several hard surfaces that created acoustical concerns. In addition, several partitions in the space made circulation in the lobby cumbersome, blocking daylight contributions from adjacent windows and the skylight above the oculus. 

“Considering this and the amount of people that traverse the space in the morning and afternoon during rush hours, the new architectural design ‘opened up’ the space visually and functionally – allowing more daylight into the space,” continued Román. “In addition, existing security checkpoints that blocked the flow of people were relocated to the perimeter of the lobby, eliminating the bottle-neck issues associated with the previous scheme.

“Another major contributor to the visual clarity of the lobby was providing lighter value finishes for horizontal and vertical surfaces. The lighter finishes, coupled with general broad lighting delivered by cylindrical fixtures with uplight and downlight distributions, created the sense of spaciousness that the client desired. To further contribute to this solution, grazing with light all the textured vertical surfaces added visual interest. Other methods of lighting, such as highlighting door frames indirectly and lighting coves, created the perfect visual canvas that demonstrates the success of this lighting design. 

“Fixtures were dimmed throughout the day to conserve energy and balance electric lighting with daylight.”

Throughout 600 West Chicago, the entire design team worked hard to acknowledge the building’s history, while also creating something that felt more contemporary. With some wonderful ideas, they created opportunities to showcase the building’s history. “There is a corridor that was used by internal messengers, who used roller skates to move quickly through the building,” said Román. “In these corridors, a decorative custom-made mobile fixture with roller skate wheels and hanging sockets with exposed antique A-shaped LED lamps delivers a whimsical effect to a rather functional space. As well as this, a mechanical wall was rescued from storage and displayed in the main corridor; we added a soft halo of light with the simple use of an LED strip concealed behind the frame.

“For the most part, architectural lighting was completely concealed from view, except for the cylindrical pendants that provide soft direct and indirect general illumination. With this in mind, the interior design team then carefully curated and selected decorative fixtures to achieve an industrial chic style that was in harmony with the architectural lighting.”

While internally the building had experienced several interventions throughout the years, thereby sparing the design team from any constraints, when it came to the façade lighting, there were some restrictions while working on the exterior drop-off renovation and the Riverwalk corridor.

“In the exterior drop-off renovation, the team was not able to surface mount fixtures because we weren’t allowed to perforate the façade to secure the fixtures to the building,” added Román. “This was a major limitation for the façade lighting, which was restricted to in-grade fixtures or fixtures concealed in the new landscape areas. 

In the Riverwalk corridor we couldn’t trespass the public’s right of way, and change the existing lighting which is part of the City of Chicago scope. New lighting was restricted within the boundaries of the private property. For this area, existing fluorescent and metal halide floodlights were replaced with LED decorative sconces.”

Reflecting on the success of the project, Román said: “We are proud to have retained all of the original design goals established by the client, architect and interior designer. We did this without changing nor steering the design team away from their vision. We were able to employ lighting technology, such as the dimmed back-lit membrane to reach their goals and enhance the space. Every detail and lighting effect came together dynamically while being in coherent harmony.”

And with the project one of several workspaces from Schuler Shook to be recognised at this year’s IALD Awards, Román added: “We have been lucky at Schuler Shook to have designed for a range of project types. In the case of corporate projects, especially the ones intended for tech tenants, it can be easy to fall into the trap of designing basic and functional lighting that meets the code. Luckily, this team designed for people and the project shows that the right design approach with architects, interior designers and lighting designers working as a cohesive team, helps create an inviting and invigorating space.

“We think it is so important for corporate workspaces to be bright, vibrant and either allow daylight penetration or mimic daylight if this valuable resource is not available in the space,” continued Román. “The visually appealing and luminous quality apparent in this project proves that a lobby and adjacent corridors that are easier to navigate visually, will provide the perfect opportunity to socialise and mingle. The previous intervention was dark and acoustically loud and raised the stress level of an already hectic commute. Now, the lobby feels brighter and more spacious, we can see the patrons stopping for coffee in the morning, drinks in the late afternoon, and throughout the day to take a break.

“We would like to thank Sarah Jacobson from LJC and Jenn McCord from Charlie Green Studio, for leading a talented group of designers, vendors and contractors into achieving this beautiful architectural transformation.”

www.schulershook.com

by Matt Waring

Toranomon Hills Business Tower, Japan

Following its success at the IALD Awards, arc speaks to Sirius Lighting Office about the Radiance Award winning lighting design of the Toranomon Hills Business Tower in Tokyo, Japan.

Located in the sleek, stylised, ever-growing metropolis of Tokyo, Japan, the IALD Radiance Award winning Toranomon Hills Business Tower features a lighting scheme to match its surroundings, while improving the wellbeing of building users.

Designed by Ingehoven Architects, the goal for Toranomon Hills Business Tower was to be a space that improved the motivations of businesspeople while functioning as a refreshing, revitalising space for visitors. 

The entrance space for the tower is characterised by an 11-metre high mirrored ceiling, with towering white walls that coexist alongside trees, a waterfall and art objects. Lighting for the tower came from Sirius Lighting Office, which was tasked with creating something “innovative and sophisticated” with the scheme.

Hirohito Totsune, President of Sirius Lighting Office, explained: “The Toranomon Hills area is comprised of four towers - two are already complete, while two are still under construction. We had to consider skilfully harmonising the lighting design of the existing structures with the other ‘to be completed’ buildings.

“We also had to acknowledge that the Business Tower serves as an international hub for global business, as well as having fast and easy transportation access to the international airport. We were challenged with creating a design that would both respect and emphasise the beauty of the architectural atmosphere.”

As such, the lighting designers developed a concept that highlights the building’s beautiful architecture, and particularly in the entrance space, connects it to its surroundings. Totsune continued: “The entrance hall has the architectural concept of an ‘Extending Boundary Line’ that connects the interior and exterior spaces into one existing domain. We adopted this into our concept, with the first motive being to try and extend the outside lighting scape into the interior.

“The second was to use fixtures that could change colour temperature in order to match the exterior daylighting conditions. For example, the morning scene starts at a bright, cool colour temperature, then transitions to a slightly warmer colour temperature for the afternoon hours before finally reaching a deeper colour temperature at nighttime, altogether creating an unnoticeably seamless series of natural scenes.

“These two design elements work to seamlessly tie together the narrative of the concept, while fulfilling the additional motive of benefitting the mental health and comfort of the office workers throughout the entire day.”

The decision for the lighting to transition throughout the day, following the natural light cycle to create a scheme in tune with building users’ circadian rhythms was a conscious one, proposed by the lighting designers.

“The designer’s original image was a continuous, bright white atmosphere,” Totsune recalled. “We argued that this effect could bring an energetic atmosphere during the day, but could also have the potential risk of impacting on the workers’ relaxation at night. We considered a way that would promote a more natural, healthier work environment through our lighting design. An essential piece to this concept work was by acknowledging the natural daylight and considering how to extend it even further into the space as a whole.”

Within the entrance space, the vast walls are formed of white terracotta louvres with a glossy glaze; the lighting method here was carefully determined to eliminate glare while creating dimensionality and bringing out the texture. As such, narrow downlights mounted in slits on the ceiling illuminate the wall, with matting applied only to the front edges, The glossy finish is then lit by recessed floor lights on the side of the louvres, where the risk of glare was lower.

Totsune elaborated on the key architectural considerations within this space: “The white terracotta wall is the main symbol for the entrance lobby, we set this at the peak lux level for the space. In addition, the middle ground making up the entry lobby space had to fulfil the duty of accomplishing the architectural narrative of having a borderless connection. This was executed by utilising dimmable and tunable fixtures in order to seamlessly adjust to that of the exterior.

“Another key figure to the space is the vegetation: we had to consider what type of lighting this would need in order to effectively grow indoors. With the help of a professional botanist, we were able to hand pick fixtures with the appropriate amount of light, and at the correct spectrum to wholly provide the proper nutrients to the trees at a similar rate to that of natural sunlight.

“While fulfilling these objectives, we were able to maintain a clean ceiling atmosphere for the architecture by recessing all the fixtures in the already-created ceiling slots designed by the architect.”

Concerning the mirrored ceiling surface, Totsune explained that one of the main worries was “the potential for reflected glare to occur on the ceiling from the light source of inground, recessed fixtures along the terracotta wall”. “We solved this by using a densely pitched LED fixture including a specially built-in light seal, which was measured to the millimetre in order to cut off glare while keeping the same intended effect.

“We also realised that concentrating too much on reducing the glare could result in a risk of decreasing the lighting effect of the wall, therefore we tested repeatedly until we found the most ideal result to satisfy both ultimatums.

“On another note, being that the ceiling directly reflects the floor surface, we also considered how to beautifully light the ground surface in the entrance space in order to cast a beautiful reflection.”

With a number of different elements within the lobby space alone, from the vegetation to waterfalls, to sculptures and art pieces, there was a risk that designers at Sirius Lighting Office would need to over-illuminate the area to properly highlight each individual object. However, for Totsune, it was about looking at the overall picture, rather than the separate pieces.

He explained: “Out of all of these features, our question wasn’t primarily to ask what objects we should emphasise, but rather how all these elements could appear harmonised as one complete art piece.

“For the waterfall lighting, we visited the mock-up many times to understand how many fixtures we needed and at what pitch they needed to be placed in order to yield the most beautiful result.

“For the complex artwork, we used 3DCG to discover which angle, pitch, lux level and number of fixtures we needed in order to accomplish this effect. However, we were finally able to meet up with the artist herself to ask what her ideal lighting concept was, where we ended up using a DALI controlled system involving 30 fixtures, each with their own separate addresses and dimming levels to create a near zero shadow effect.”

Looking further up the building, the façade features rows of horizontal fins. At the lower levels, these are illuminated to guide people into the lobby, while higher up, LEDs embedded into their edges project slowly moving images, reminiscent of clouds seen in Japanese ink paintings. Designed to harmonise with the surrounding night view, the lighting on these fins is one of the first examples of exterior lighting in Tokyo to visualise the natural environment.

Totsune explained how the lighting for these fins fits into the wider architectural design: “In the overall composition of the complex’s hierarchy, a juxtaposition of horizontal façade elements on the newer towers gave way to the ‘aesthetically vertical in nature’ Mori Tower. These horizontal fins, when viewed from afar, nonchalantly portray the abstract appearance of overlapping hills, giving narrative to the site programme. Not only do these serve as an aesthetic device, but also play a major role in the sustainability of the building, acting as a brise soleil system to block direct sunlight from entering the building.

“When coming up with the lighting design concept to illuminate the fins, we imagined looking up at the façade and seeing these beautiful overlapping fins ascending seamlessly into the sky. However, keeping in mind that the entrance lobby was the ‘eye catcher’ of the project, we carefully considered the potential risk that over lighting these fins could cause, both aesthetically as a whole to the tower and surrounding context, as well as economically for the client.”

For the fins at the top of the building, 300mm thick, high-tech boxes housing linear lighting fixtures were installed, each with their own separate DMX signal automatically programmed to turn on during nighttime to softly portray moonlit clouds passing by the night sky.

The use of clouds was something that Totsune feels pays homage to traditional elements of Japanese culture. “Since ancient times, Japanese people have had a yearning to be closely connected to things of nature. In creating this nighttime sky scene, we felt this was to be something of a comfortable and familiar sight.”

Since the project was completed, it has been gaining plaudits around the world, none greater than the IALD Radiance Award - the top honour at this year’s IALD International Lighting Design Awards. While Totsune was grateful for the recognition, describing it as an honour, he remained humble when looking back on the project.

“We believe that this was one of the most high-end projects worked on and produced by our firm. At first glance, we can agree that it is a beautiful project. However, we had to face many challenges involving maintenance, cost, space and construction. If it weren’t for the help of the extremely talented group of people that worked together to solve these issues, this project wouldn’t have become a reality. Because of this, we can confidently say the project has become more beautiful and meaningful to us.”

He concluded: “We hope that there will be even more attention drawn to lighting design in Japan and hope that we can continue to touch the hearts of our audience. We wouldn’t have made it this far without the help of the clients, architects, designers, construction workers and all the people involved. We are very thankful to all these people who helped make this beautiful project a reality.”

www.sirius-ltg.com

by Matt Waring