A monument incorporating technology of the future: the original Emporio Tower dates from 1963 and although the building was almost completely rebuilt from the core to the outer façade in order to make it more sustainable, its appearance has been largely preserved to honour the building as a historic monument. Next to the office building, which is known as “Unileverhaus”, a new hotel and apartment building has been erected.

For both these projects, the new building and the refurbished one, the clients opted for sustainable materials and a highly energy efficient design. For example, timber was selected from certified ecological sources, and the design makes maximum use of sunlight as a natural source of energy. The heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting systems are individually controllable. Low energy consumption, a modern building management system and an optimised room climate are clear benefits for both tenants and the environment. The sustainable air conditioning and energy concept reduces operating costs for cooling and heating by up to 64 %, which means that CO₂ emissions are reduced by approx. 1,600 annually.

LED lighting for the façade: maximum effect with minimum energy consumption
Zumtobel’s innovative LED lighting technology forms the basis for lighting effects that are both impressive and sustainable. With three different radiation angles, the  PAN LED luminaire fitted in the window reveals meets the lighting requirements of the heritage-protected façade. By means of a variety of optics and shutters, light is directed selectively onto the areas to be illuminated. This avoids stray light and the associated light pollution – and the more than 5,000 luminaires installed in the Emporio façade consume no more than 1980 W in total. Each light source can be individually dimmed and controlled, which means that the intensity levels and switch-on times can be selected individually. 

Zumtobel. The Light.

Žilina aglow

With this 22,000 m² shopping centre, which is named “Žilina’s new heart”, the architect has managed to create a fascinating mix of traditional and contemporary architecture. The shopping centre is essentially composed of a circular structure with adjoining rectangular building parts.

In close collaboration with the architect, state-of-the-art luminaires and lighting control systems have been installed to provide maximum convenience and a feel-good atmosphere in passageways, lounge areas and restaurants. In the individual areas, light has been used for varying purposes: providing a brilliant interplay of colours, soft ambient lighting or visual guidance. For the core of the façade, an unusual special LED solution was developed, which reveals itself only when darkness falls. Then, some 2000 LED spots create a magically luminous shell around the entrance. Via DMX control, each compact LED spotlight can be controlled separately.

The interior lighting system features energy-efficient luminaires with daylight-based control and high lighting quality. Uniform ambient lighting in the large hall is provided by downlights. Light lines guide customers through the passageways. For the general illumination of corridors and passageways, the Cielos modular lighting system has been installed: clusters of 2 x 2 luminaires in intermediate light colour create a superior feel-good ambience as well as a seemingly airy ceiling.

In addition to PANOS INFINITY LED downlights, which cannot fail to impress on account of their excellent lighting quality and colour rendering, the Supersystem LED lighting system has been installed. By integrating them into the LUXMATE Professional lighting management system, individual luminaires or luminaires arranged in various groups can be switched on/off or dimmed as required to optimise the quantity of light and thus energy consumption. Even the state-of-the art LED emergency lighting system is controlled and monitored by the intelligent system.

Zumtobel. The Light.

Soft illumination

Back in 1890, the 11 storeys of The Rookery made it the tallest building in the world. Today, the building is still considered to be a forerunner of modern skyscrapers. The unique and fascinating architecture of the interior design by Frank Lloyd Wright and the stucco-decorated façade are certainly worth a visit. Thanks to the façade lighting, designed by OVI, a lighting design office based in New York, and realised by Zumtobel, the building is now also a special feature in the cityscape at night.

Custom luminaires manufactured specially for the project accentuate the fine stucco work of the façade. This involved an adaptation of the optics: the typical rotationally symmetric light cone of LED point light sources is flattened and elliptical in the custom solution. Thanks to special fixtures, the light sources are invisible from the street, and the historic façade remains intact. The Rookery by night has become a breathtaking symbol of timelessness and a new highlight of Chicago’s financial district.

In the context of the World Architecture News Awards 2012, the façade illumination of the Rookery Building in Chicago won the first prize as the best lighting solution. The ROOK custom design has been incorporated into the standard product portfolio and is now available as ELEVO LED spotlight.

Zumtobel. The Light.

Can you really walk through a rainbow? Yes, in Aarhus, Denmark, on top of the roof of the Danish Art Museum ARoS, to be precise, where renowned artist Olafur Eliasson has implemented a spectacular installation: a 150-metre circular walkway titled “Your rainbow panorama”. Visitors to the rainbow ring located at a height of 50 metres can enjoy a breath-taking 360° view of the harbour town. The daylight filtering through the curved glass walls in all colours of the spectrum, each of them specifically made for this purpose, creates the impression of being inside a rainbow. For the installation to be visible also at night, Eliasson relied on Zumtobel, his long-term partner in lighting: from dusk till dawn, a specially developed lighting solution incorporating 116 recessed uplights installed along the inner periphery of the ring transforms the white ceiling into a source of light, so that the panoramic walkway appears like a rainbow hovering above the museum.

A rainbow over Aarhus
“Your rainbow panorama” is the last puzzle piece of the ARoS Art Museum, which had been completed in 2004. The cube-shaped, nine-storey museum building boasting a glass front and a spaciously designed museum street inside seems to be the perfect location for the rainbow installation. The circular walkway installed at a height of 50 metres has a diameter of 52 metres, a width of three metres, and rests on slim columns three and a half metres above the rooftop of the museum. Visitors inside “Your rainbow panorama” enjoy a unique panoramic view over Aarhus through the glass walls. Each of the coloured glass panels had to be specifically made for this purpose, since a special curvature was required to achieve the circular path. These panels are the only load-bearing structures that support the roof. By day, it is natural sunlight that is filtered through the laminated glass, making the entire installation seem to glow in the colours of the rainbow. At dusk and at night, daylight is replaced by 116 special recessed uplights provided by Zumtobel.

In order to achieve the same effect as by day, all the luminaires had to be concealed. Zumtobel solved this problem by using a specially developed indirect lighting system: T16 uplights were installed along the inner perimeter of the walkway. The special luminaires have been recessed into the edges of the floor below a walkable anti-glare louvre. The reflectors and materials used for the luminaires were specially optimised for this project, so that the entire ceiling surface is symmetrically illuminated. Thus, the ceiling of the panoramic walkway becomes a virtual source of light that makes the coloured glass panels seem to glow against a light background, while visitors are still able to enjoy the view from inside.

Zumtobel. The Light.

Emotional and full of energy, like Iceland itself

The new Harpa Concert Hall rises up like a giant cut crystal in front of the jagged coast of Reykjavik harbour. The honeycomb elements of the façade make up a dazzling sea of multicoloured highlights. Refl ections on the water surface reinforce the association with a natural phenomenon, calling to mind mysterious northern lights. The sparkling Concert Hall and Conference Centre that now adorns the cosmopolitan capital of Iceland was designed by Henning Larsen Architects in cooperation with the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who was responsible for the characteristic appearance of the outer envelope. The area in front of the building is bathed in mystical blue light emanating from hidden sources of light, transmitted inside the building through glass fi elds. Olafur Eliasson and Zumtobel developed a special new type of luminaire, the shape and colour of which permits almost invisible integration in the prism structure of the façade, lighting it up with LEDs. Inside the crystalline outer envelope, visitors can expect to experience music in a new dimension. The large three-tiered concert hall with a blazing red interior is named after one of Iceland’s most beautiful volcanoes “Eldborg”, meaning “Fire Castle”.

Zumtobel. The Light.

Instructive and exciting

Friedrichshafen Airport has a new landmark: the Dornier Museum for aeronautics in Friedrichshafen is shaped like a hangar, impressively representing the fascination of flying. While, during the day, light penetrates into the building through large windows, the museum turns into a glittering point of light at night - with a lighting installation by James Turrell adding to the effect.

In the museum, visitors enter a bright, welcoming foyer. TECTON continuous rows and Vivo pendant luminaires make for a pleasant atmosphere. From the spacious entrance area with cafeteria and shop, visitors get into the museum box above, which illustrates the history of the Dornier company and the milestones of aviation in eleven rooms. Model airplanes, drawings and other historical exhibits are highlighted in glass display cabinets by means of batten luminaires and compact LED spots. The lighting design makes do without any windows, structuring the exhibition rooms in relatively bright and relatively dark zones that provide for variety on a tour through the museum, highlighting certain exhibits. The hangar contains the heart of the museum: a large hall with historical airplanes, many of them veritable curiosities. Slotlight luminaires with a special louvre ensure uniform illumination without undesired shadows.

To highlight the exterior facade during the night, James Turrell has created a lighting work of art bringing visitors' perception to new dimensions with its harmonious colour sequence. Thanks to innovative 16-bit control, the luminaires’ colour space was extended to several million colours, providing nearly unlimited freedom in lighting composition.

Zumtobel. The Light.

Korea can boast a new superlative: the Galleria Centercity shopping mall in Cheonan. This huge building is visible from afar as one reaches the end of the journey to Cheonan, located 80 km from Seoul. It is not just the grand scale of this “consumer temple” that is breathtaking – the vast 12,600 m² media façade is also huge. Dynamic light shows produced by more than 22,000 LED lighting points wrap the structure in a shimmering skin that stands out impressively against its urban setting. The high-power LED spotlights specially developed by luminaire manufacturer Zumtobel are designed to merge almost imperceptibly into the façade. Thanks to them, the coloured lighting sequences that ripple across the surface of the building – sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly – exert an even greater fascination on visitors to the mall.

12,399 of the 22,000 luminaires used are 3.6 W RGB luminaires, while the remaining units (approximately 10,000) are 1.2 W white luminaires. This wide-area indirect pixel concept guarantees extremely high efficiency in relation to the surface area to be illuminated as well as harmonious luminance levels. Zumtobel created this unique lighting installation in cooperation with renowned Bonn lighting design firm ag Licht and the prestigious Amsterdam architecture firm UNStudio.

Computer-based animations developed by UNStudio were also integrated into the lighting design. The installed DMX control system ensures individual programming of individual LED spots and paints animations on the surface of the building accurately in every detail.

Galleria Centercity is a striking example of how façades can become interactive elements of the urban landscape and the way in which urban spaces can be shaped by light – without this indirect, glare-free light causing any nuisance in adjacent areas of the town.

Zumtobel. The Light.

 

		“Our goal for illuminating the façade was to use this extremely large surface in a way that the overall impression of the building at night would be similar to the impression created by day. What we wanted to achieve was for our lighting design to reflect the façade’s multilayeredness and the interplay of overlapping sections. So we came up with the basic idea of projecting the light from the façade sections onto the inner layer of the building, which we were finally able to implement to optimum effect in collaboration with Zumtobel.” Wilfried Kramb, Project Manager Lighting Design, ag Licht
		"The most interesting thing about the effect of the Galleria Cheonan is that, because of the organisation of the atrium and the moiré treatment of the facade, Illusions are created which result in the seeming alteration of scales and the creation of double images. No image is permanent in this building." Ben van Berkel, DirectorUNStudio

The Bauarena building is striking on account of its mere size of 25,000 square metres, comprising five storeys. The supraregional center of excellence addressing all issues related to building and construction is a very conspicuous sight along one of Volketswil’s main road axes, although situated behind another building.

At night, 100 LED light lines create a vibrant luminous shell for the Bauarena in Volketswil, Switzerland, with red colour sequences matched perfectly to the Bauarena’s logo. This unique lighting installation by Zumtobel has turned the building into an eye-catcher, demonstrating the importance of sophisticated façade illumination in order to attract people’s attention and enhance a company’s image. If required, the intelligent control system allows to create up to 15 different lighting scenes.

Some 100 window-height HILIO LED light lines with variable colours, with an output of 39 W each, were installed on the four façade faces of the huge building. Matching the red Bauarena logo, they shine at varying intensity levels during the night. A frosted linear tube was used for manufacturing the light lines, in order to achieve a perfect colour mix and to avoid individual LED light points becoming perceptible. A DMX system, which can be controlled via the building’s technical system, provides exciting brightness changes of the individual LED light lines.

Zumtobel. The Light.

Once Fussach was dominated by excavators, now it is much more picturesque with boats and yachts. A former gravel pit has been converted into a sparkling new harbour on Lake Constance. The Nordwesthaus building designed by Baumschlager Eberle rises 14 meters directly out of the water. Its unique architecture makes it an impressive addition to the area. Underneath the glass cube are decorative curved concrete walls that blend perfectly with the natural surroundings of reed and trees.

In the evening the Nordwesthaus is a real eyecatcher. Dynamic colour sequences bring the unique building façade to life, creating a wide variety of displays within the basic architectural elements. When the building is bathed in greenish blue light it takes on the appearance of reeds that are being swayed in a gentle night-time breeze over the lake. Yellow and red shades give the building a fiery glow so the Nordwesthaus becomes the fourth element alongside water, earth and air. Slow changes of colour in cool white tones are mirrored in the lake to produce fascinating reflections of infinite variety. Go inside the multi-functional building and the effect is just as captivating. The lighting scenes draw people in and give the entire space a pleasant atmosphere without being intrusive.

Zumtobel has created an easy-to-use solution for this project that shows the wide range of design options that LED technology can provide. The 125 LED spotlights developed in cooperation with Baumschlager Eberle specifically for this project are cleverly arranged in the façade of the building to produce optimum lighting. The 12 integrated RGB LEDs per luminaire offer an immense spectrum of more than 16 million colours. This means that the colour of the lighting can change subtly from one shade to the next through the entire colour spectrum. The compact luminaires are fitted with asymmetrical optics to ensure that the amoeba-like voids in the concrete walls are fully illuminated. The optics spread the light wide in the voids in the walls and also focus it to the sides in the room and also to the outside. This means that there is very little scattered light inside the building, which in turn helps create a pleasant atmosphere and ensures that people are not disturbed by the built-in spotlights. DMX control enables dynamic lighting sequences to be created. It is these sequences that are helping to turn the building into a sightseeing attraction.

30 recessed Zumtobel downlights installed into the ceiling, using low-voltage halogen lamps, complete the unique lighting ensemble of the Nordwesthaus' interior. Thanks to their discreet design the downlights blend seamlessly into the building's architectural design concept. Their smooth accents underline the fascinating spatial impact.

Zumtobel. The Light.