Dark-Sky Design: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

London

Architects & Firms

After the London 2012 Summer Olympics, lighting design firms Speirs + Major and Michael Grubb Studio worked with landscape architect James Corner Field Operations to transform what had been an open concourse in the Olympic Park into a 1,600-foot-long promenade. To illuminate the path, the team created 56 galvanized 3-foot-diameter metal spheres hung from a catenary wire. These spheres are perforated with almost 800 holes of three different sizes and fitted with a custom LED module that includes a diffuse lens. The LEDs illuminate the interior surface of the balls—each of which is powder-coated in a different hue of blue or green—and shine through the holes to create a dappled effect reminiscent of sunlight filtered through a tree canopy. The spheres are connected to a site-wide lighting control system that dims promenade lighting levels from approximately 15 lux during prime hours of occupancy to about 10 lux later at night. The scheme, says Mark Major, Speirs + Major principal, is so effective because it “uses darkness as well as light.”

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People

Consultants

Landscape Architects - James Corner Field Operations
Lighting Design - Speirs + Major
Executive Lighting Designer - Michael Grubb Studio

General contractor:

SKANKSA

Photographer:

James Newton +44(0)20 7223 4210

Products

Lighting

Lighting to promenade:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 35W with Philips MASTERColour (fixtures retained from the Olympic Park)
Custom fixture 'Spheres' with LED module fabricated by Mike Stoane Lighting

Spotlight to trees along promenade:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 35W with Philips MASTERColour (fixtures retained from the Olympic Park)

Path lighting:
Philips Lighting Citysoul 80W with Integral LED 3000K (lanterns/fixtures retained from the Olympic Park)

Amenity lighting to Picnic & Play and Climb and Play Rooms:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 150W with Philips MASTERColour (spotlights retained from the Olympic Park)

Amenity lighting to Theatre, ‘Room in a Room’ & Carousel Rooms:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 70W with Philips MASTERColour (spotlights retained from the Olympic Park)

Amenity lighting to Civic Plaza:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 150W with Philips MASTERColour (spotlights retained from the Olympic Park)

Security lighting to Orbit Plaza:
Philips Lighting Optiflood 250W with Philips MASTERColour (floodlights retained from the Olympic Park)

Amenity lighting to Orbit Plaza:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 150W with Philips MASTERColour (floodlights retained from the Olympic Park)

Lighting to HO4-HO5 route:
Philips Lighting Citysoul 115W with Integral LED 3000K (lanterns/fixtures retained from the Olympic Park)

Uplight to trees:
Philips Decoscene 35W with Philips MASTERColour

Uplight to thickets:
Philips Decoscene 70W with Philips MASTERColour

Lighting to benches and steps:
Philips Underwater 8W with Integral LED 3000K

Amenity lighting to Climb and Play:
Philips Lighting Decoflood 70W with Philips MASTERColour (spotlights retained from the Olympic Park)

Lighting to stepped seating:
Philips Lighting BWG322 Asymmetric 9W with Integral LED 3000K

Lighting to abacus ladders and porch swings:
Philips Underwater 8W with Integral LED 3000K

General downlighting, lighting to artwork wall and kiosks:
ACDC Fino with Integral LED 3000K

Lighting to rooflights:
iGuzzini Linealuce with Philips Master 28W

Lighting to Carpenters Lock bridge:
Philips Underwater 3W with Integral LED 3000K

Joann Gonchar, FAIA, LEED AP, is deputy editor at Architectural Record. She joined RECORD in 2006, after working for eight years at its sister publication, Engineering News-Record. Before starting her career as a journalist, Joann worked for several architecture firms and spent three years in Kobe, Japan, with the firm Team Zoo, Atelier Iruka. She earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. She is licensed to practice architecture in New York State.