Lighting for shopping and entertainment centers on the example of LETO Mall
For residents of modern cities, the role of shopping and entertainment centers has changed significantly, and long gone far beyond consumption. Today they are one of the most popular community and recreational centers. Lighting plays a key role in a process of building visitors and costumers loyalty - if nothing is visible or the lighting accents are not right, then nobody is going to buy anything. In this case, both it is important not only the internal, but also the external lighting of the facades and the surrounding area.
About the project
Mall “LETO” on Pulkovo highway in St. Petersburg is unique in its own way. Its architecture reminded us of a gift box that was hidden in a tall grass. On the main facade you can see a floral ornament, consisting of metal decorative elements in the form of branches dotted with petals.
Pic. 1 LETO Mall during the day
During the day, such a large-scale and original facade solution attracts potential customers to the shopping center, but in the dark it is lost against the backdrop of the bright advertising signs. Therefore, the architectural lighting of the shopping and entertainment center was supposed to solve this problem - to emphasize the unique appearance of the building in the evening and at night.
Lighting concept and goals
During our work on the overall concept, we decided not only to emphasize the facade solution, but to make the lighting dynamic.
Pic. 2 Vizualization
The idea to create a media façade was inspired by the construction of the building itself. The grass at the mall is made of narrow perforated panels mounted on a metal frame, which are attached directly to the facade of the box. The petals are made of matt green polycarbonate and repeat the metal elements. As soon as it became clear that they were hollow, the idea was born to make them glow from the inside. Since the thickness of the petals is only 150 mm, it was necessary to choose a low-power small light source with a wide angle. The IntiDOT series luminarie was perfectly suited for this.
This decision made it possible to control each light box individually and allowed us to “revive” the petals. A high degree of protection of the IP65 and IP67 luminaire for the driver ensured a long service life (at least 50,000 hours) of the product in temperature ranges up to -40 ° C.
Project Implementation
We did not have enough information about the object during the first stages, our sketches did not correspond to reality and we were forced to draw a concept without technical details. In this regard, field modeling was required for each individual part of the facade. Petals were modeled in the office, where we tried to use different polycarbonate, to select the optimal IntiDOT step and chose the thickness of the petals. As a result, in order to avoid pixelation on the outside of the petal, we stopped at a step of 100 mm. The polycarbonate on the outside was replaced with another, softer version that allowed us to achieve the most even light on the entire surface of the petals, without dark spots.
Pic. 3 Petal
To choose perfect dimensions and characteristics of the LED garlands of IntiDOT luminaires we carried out field modeling which also helped us to It was on the field simulation that we finally decide a place of installation of the equipment. Initially, several methods for attaching IntiDOT to perforated strips were proposed. We wanted to install garlands of luminaries behind the perforation, but only after full-scale modeling it became clear that the its holes did not transmit light.
Pic. 4 Mock up
The back surface was quite far away, and it is blue-colored, which means distortion and reduction of light that is reflected from the facade. The next option that we considered is mounting on a panel frontally using polycarbonate. This option has also been rejected. The perforated strip was not sufficiently illuminated. Direct observation spotlights worked as a media facade, but did not create the necessary image of summer grass. As a result, together with our partners from “Europeyskaya Svetotechnika” we came up with idea of fixing luminaries with a special brackets, which were individually developed by the specialists of this company for this project. Thanks to them, the grass was illuminated brightly and evenly, the glare effect was minimized.
Pic.5 IntiDOT garland on the facade of the mall
To illuminate the glazed rhizolites of the mall we proposed two possible options. The first one is flood frontal lighting from the outside of the mall’s supports. But it did not fit due to the lack of normal supports, and most importantly, the inability to put them. The second option is to illuminate the entire structure from the inside with luminaries to create volumetric lighting, a some sort of aquarium of light. Convenient maintenance and quick installation have become a huge advantage of this option.
Management system
The entire facade is controlled pixel by pixel using the MADRIX software, which allows user to create various color dynamic solutions. To achieve the desired effect, field modeling was also carried out. Effects that described and presented on a computer screen often do not look so impressive on the object itself. Knowing this, we initially slowed down the speed of the lighting scenarios, but were able to achieve the desired image. Lighting provides the following scenarios for the equipment: regular static and slightly dynamic scenarios for each day, scenarios for the New Year holidays, for public holidays and big events.
In addition, the scripts are programmed to automatically change the seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn. Besides, IntiDOT system can be used independently, both in this project, and in conjunction with other DMX-controlled devices, for example, together with spotlights or linear luminaries. The system consists of individual points of high brightness with various configurations that allow it to create a unique technical solution for each specific case, including use for building media facades.
Pic. 6 Сompleted project
We faced a difficult design task. But such difficult and interesting projects inspire us. As a result of meticulous work on every step, countless field simulations, we were able to successfully implement the project and exceed customer expectations.
Pic. 7 LETO Mall during the evening
Lighting engineering company
Supply, installation, starting-up and adjustment works performed by the “Evropeykaya Electrotechnika” Engineering company.