The new lounges are not opulent. They are smart, elegant spaces devoid of superfluous distractions that are irrelevant to the guests. There is everything you need and nothing you do not.
The signature theme in all of the lounges is the ceiling to floor glass feature wall illuminated by LED lighting found at the reception and within the overall space. The reception walls are neutral white. The inner wall changes colour, subtly.
Hong Kong International Airport is full to capacity. There is not a millimetre to spare in the lounge and any additional elements will compete with existing features. The illuminated glass walls act as partitions so they are functional as well as decorative. However, there is precious little space for the lighting systems. Buried in the ceiling and the floor, access to the luminaires and the potential for overheating become pivotal issues.
illumination Physics designed and manufactured a special version of the Linear Graze wash light. It was essential that the luminaire be simple and reliable. To achieve this, the fixture could not contain any electronics and remote drivers had to be located in an accessible service room nearby.
Heat was an issue because the 100mm gap between the frosted glass and the back panel is poorly ventilated. Thermal models were produced to determine the dimensions of the luminaire so that sufficient conductive cooling for the LEDs was achieved. The luminaire also had to be short in length, just 250mm, so that it could be manoeuvred past the metal framework that supports the glass wall.
The new light fixture was eventually designated IP XHP 250. Each fixture contains two sets of LEDs: one set of five RGBW composite LEDs for pastel colour mixing, allowing Cathay's signature teal blue to be achieved; A second set of single colour LEDs, from a particular colour temperature bin, which would be used for a Warm White only which could not be achieved by colour mixing.
(Jim Evans)
