THE SUN REGULATES THE LIGHTING

The lighting concept provides for a seasonal and circadian tracking of the artificial light. For this purpose, we control the colour temperature and illuminance in the individual departments. In addition, we also react to special requirements. In the kitchen department, for example, with its large selection of surfaces, it is important that these can be evaluated as well as under daylight. In the lounge area, cosiness is important, and in the areas with daylight it is important that the adaptation areas are dynamically adjusted for a high level of visual comfort to ensure a pleasant transition from daylight to artificial light.

CONVERSION DURING OPERATION

Since the project involved a conversion during ongoing business operations, in which department after department was modernised over a construction period of 6 months, we decided on a radio-based control concept with CASAMBI. Normally, it is only at the end of a refurbishment that lighting can be put into operation via a control system and then final lighting scenes can be set. However, this often leads to luminaires without a control system creating an uncontrolled lighting climate during the conversion phase. Since we closed, converted and reopened department after department in a weekly rhythm, we always wanted a fully functional lighting concept immediately after completion. This was achieved very well with Casambi, because it equips the luminaire with control competence right from the start. Another advantage of this radio-based solution was that no control cables had to be laid. In addition to reducing costs, this also significantly reduced the fire load in the ceilings.

If we look at the project in retrospect and compare it with other projects that have been implemented with wired controls, we can say that it has never been so easy and cost-efficient to put a project into operation.

Photos: Tom Gundelwein

INSPIRING LIGHTING CLIMATE

Spacious adaptation areas were created at all entrance areas, which pick up visitors from the respective daylight situation and accompany them into the artificial light. The lighting climate in the mall was designed in the sense of "Human Centric Lighting" and was also deliberately designed to be much more contrasting and diverse than would be implemented in normal interiors, for example. As this is a mall where a shopping experience is to be created, all decorative ceiling elements were equipped with lighting technology so that spacious diffuse light surfaces were created on the ceiling, equipped with sufficient luminous fluxes to simulate the natural sky. These were supplemented with luminaires that produce brilliant directional light and thus imitate the proportion of direct sunlight from nature. All luminaires are equipped with mixable white light from 1,800 K- 6,500 K and are infinitely dimmable. A lighting control system takes over the direction of all artificial light and adapts it to natural daylight in terms of illuminance and colour temperature. The mixture of different types of light ensures that a vitalising and inviting lighting climate is created at all times.

BEER GARDEN ATMOSPHERE FOR CONNOISEURS

Light objects such as a "pergola" that covers a seating area also create tension and analogies to the location. It symbolises the classic Munich beer garden and invites people to relax and enjoy each other's company. In the different areas of the mall, light objects repeatedly attract attention and provide variety. For example, there are "hovering light whirls" or oversized floor luminaires that decorate the air spaces of the high galleries. Light objects such as a "pergola" that covers a seating area also create tension and analogies to the location. It symbolises the classic Munich beer garden and invites people to relax and enjoy each other's company. In the different areas of the mall, light objects repeatedly attract attention and provide variety. For example, there are " suspended light whirls" or oversized floor luminaires that decorate the air spaces of the high galleries.

LUMINAIRE DESIGN DURABLE AND EASY TO MAINTAIN

With regard to sustainability, the lighting designers designed all the surface luminaires in a special luminaire design without exception. This design avoids diffuser foils completely, because they get dirty over time and the quality of light decreases in the long term due to the ageing process. In our case, the light is generated in a joint and distributed over the entire surface via a specially shaped and coated reflector. The light joint is integrated into the reflector architecture in such a way that an observer cannot see into it and therefore cannot be dazzled. As the luminaires have also been installed outdoors, all components are IP-protected. The open area light distribution works so well that only a very slight gradient is perceptible in the light distribution, which was also a desired aspect in the design of the technology. The aim was to create a curved shape that is much more dynamic and exciting than a smooth light surface. The work and initial studies for this luminaire concept began in 2017 and were consistently implemented until completion this year.

Photos: Tom Gundelwein

PRESERVING THE TRIED AND TESTED

Visitors enter the mall through the multi-storey car park in frontside and immerse themselves in the interactive light and sound installation "The Living Seas", which has welcomed visitors unchanged since the opening. Here, the lighting designers created a 56m-long room installation that rests in deep blue light. Visitors entering the room occasionally hear the sound of a drop of water from the silence of the space. When the visitor walks in, he triggers light waves that mix with sounds and blossom in the most beautiful colours the maritime world has to offer. 

DYNAMIC DAYLIGHTING

The task for the lighting concept was to follow daylight with colour temperature and illuminance. For this reason, all luminaires were equipped with mixable white light from 1,800 K - 6,500 K. The photos show how the lighting climate changes at different times of the day, analogue to daylight. The change runs unnoticed and fluidly from a glorious sunny June day to a beautiful warm white sunset the same evening.  

COLOUR CONCEPT IN LIGHTING AND SURFACES

The installation seamlessly welcomes and accompanies the visitor into the centre of the mall, divided into the 3 large themed areas "Play", "Eat" and "Relax". These were set off from each other in the colours yellow, orange and dark violet.  The spacious promenades between the themed areas are kept in neutral beige and sand tones, with high-quality wooden surfaces mixed in. This colour scheme is continued in furniture and wall and column panelling as well as in lamella ceilings, creating a beautiful accent and, in combination with artificial light adapted to the daylight, ensuring a feel-good atmosphere.  Whereas in the past the ceiling surfaces of the entrance areas were kept discreetly coloured in order to set the scene by means of coloured light, the refurbishment focused on strong colours for the surfaces. The lighting, which can be controlled in white tones, can be used here to intensify the colour impression and, in some cases, to soften it to some degree.

LUMINAIRE DESIGNS INSPIRED BY NATURE

In the Relax area, an artificial tree has been created with countless shade lamps to create a dreamy atmosphere. This is achieved by the sophisticated double-walled construction of the luminaires: they thus create a wonderful lightness and are able to emit soft diffuse light as well as brilliant light for a beautiful contrast in the room. Smaller versions of this light sculpture scatter as if by chance in the connecting areas of the large avenues. The mall has 4 large rotundas, the centres of which are decorated with spiral-shaped cloth-covered luminaires that look like inverted fountains.  The single-storey parts of the shopping streets were designed with light-beam ceilings that create a visual elevation of the space and pick up on and continue the colour scheme of the adjacent areas.  The food court forms the centre of the mall with its clerestory and wave ceiling. Illuminated pylons, which create dynamic light effects from within with an LED matrix, dominate the space and can be illuminated in different ways for different occasions. 

Photos: Tom Gundelwein

Light for relaxation

The property is built into a slope. The view from the spa over Lake Zurich and the Alps opens out from a glass façade. In order to balance natural and artificial light, a room-size sculpture was designed that accentuates the pool and ensures a sufficient level of illuminance on the ceiling. The wave, composed of white wooden slats, incorporates RGB-controllable LED stripes, which shine indirectly onto the surface of the ceiling. Lights at the bottom of the swimming pool project the movement of the water onto the wave sculpture.

Flowing light: from the wave to the step

There is a heated bench alongside the pool, into which the steam bath, sensory shower and sauna are integrated. There are changing rooms, showers and a massage room along the stairs. The connection between the pool area and sauna zone is designed as a stairway of light with changing colours. This custom structure composed of glass brick steps and bespoke LED lights (planes) was designed for easy installation.

Dynamic lighting effects with changing colours

Four lighting moods are available, the general white light and three dynamic colour programmes (red-orange: fireplace, blue-white: ocean freshness, green-yellow: spring). One colour programme can always be combined with the white light; brightness and degree of colour saturation can be varied. Cornice lighting and recessed ground lights accentuate all sandstone-clad walls, which are adjacent to the cliff face.

Photos: Tom Gundelwein