Twelve years later, illumination Physics was commissioned to help bring to life the first wave of HSBC'S 150th anniversary messages. A complete update of the façade lighting and the integration of three large media walls followed.
In 2003, the HSBC main building was equipped with the best lighting technology available at the time. The LED revolution had yet to take hold. The first step of illumination physics' plan for this building upgrade was to bring the façade lighting up to date. The photometric requirements for this building are very precise. Few planned changes were earmarked for the lighting plot and the positions of the light fixtures largely remained the same. However a major technical makeover was required.
Architectural lighting is a derivative art form and the façade lighting of this extraordinary building had, since 2003, accentuated its most prominent feature - the 'Exoskeleton'. This is comprised of two 'ladder' trusses which extend the full height of the building. Suspended from the ladders are the horizontal and diagonal brace elements of the exoskeleton which measure between 12 and 18 meters long.
Three types of wash lights were required on the façade: Powerful narrow focus grazing wash lights for the main elements of the exoskeleton; A smaller asymmetric lens wash light for the ladder trusses; and a wide-angle soft flood light to illuminate the soffits of the prominent double height refuge floors.
Illumination Physics had already developed the IP Wash 48, a four-colour 100W narrow wash with a 5° beam. During on-site testing, it was determined that a single lens type was not good enough, so differing lens angles were used. Closest to the illuminated surface a diffused asymmetric lens gave even coverage whilst the main body of the fixture used a symmetrical 5° lens to promote a longer projection. This multi-lens technique is referred to by Illumination Physics as 'double graze'.
As the Wash 48 is a DC fixture designed for use in hostile climates such as the Gulf or where maintenance is difficult, it was developed with a remote driver. For HSBC the fixture was developed to carry AC power and DMX on board as this would enable the existing wiring to be used during the upgrade. The existing brackets were reused and a custom mounting plate was manufactured for the fixture so that it could mate exactly with the original stainless steel mounts. The end result is brighter and more accurate.
For the ladder truss lighting, an AC version of the smaller IP Wash 24 was developed with a wide asymmetric lens so that the lighting on the underside of the 'rungs' of the ladder truss could be optimised, with far better coverage and less spill.
The wide flood version of the IP Wash 48 was lensed so that the light footprints overlapped precisely on the soffit of the refuge floors. Custom brackets meant that the refurbishment could happen with the minimum of fuss.
The new façade lighting is more accurate, the hues that can be created are far greater and the saturation of RGBW additive colour mixing is superior to the previous CMY subtractive filters used since 2003. The energy consumption was reduced by approximately 90% depending on the lighting content program that is being displayed.
Re-lighting the building was a huge improvement but this step alone did not meet all of the client's needs. For the 150th anniversary, the building needed to 'come to life' and communicate to its viewers. Three powerful media walls were required as the messages being displayed were complex. No static display could achieve the goals. The Illumination Physics design for the medi
