As in any great film, Beirut’s illuminated downtown reveals no unintended harsh shadows, no light sources or fixtures. Its Ottoman-style and French-mandate buildings and their Arabesque, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco details subtly emerge with strokes and washes of what might be moonlight. It’s all an illusion, except the illusion hasn’t been created for the ephemeral moment of the shot. Lighting Beirut Architecture, an ambitious project designed by the French lighting-design firm Light Cibles, was a first step in an ongoing transformation of the city’s downtown nightscape. The initiative, directed by Solidère, the real-estate developer responsible for the Beirut Central
For several years on the anniversary of 9/11, a pair of temporary light beams were projected heavenward as luminous reminders of the attacks on the Twin Towers.
The Great Light Way In January 2005, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership of Montreal, an organization of area stakeholders dedicated to promoting Montreal’s cultural district, took on an ambitious urban-branding project: creating a cohesive identity for the 20 cultural venues and two public squares that make up the area. With art direction by branding experts Ruedi Baur and Jean Beaudoin, of Integral, the solution is a stunning architectural light show dubbed the Luminous Pathway. The Pathway comprises a double row of illuminated red circles (four-headed LED fixtures mounted on adjacent buildings) that lead pedestrians from place to place. The color
Artist Doug Aitken first visited the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2009, on the invitation of its director Richard Koshalek to conceive an entirely mirrored reading room in the lower lobby.
Art imitates life in surprising ways. For Miami residents hurrying through the lobby of the city’s 1985 Stephen P. Clark Government Center lobby, Reflect, a permanent, interactive installation by artist Ivan Toth Depeña, does it by capturing their movements in real time, and transforming them into dynamic video paintings that illuminate the building’s columns with vivid moving pixels.
At Princeton University's new Frick Chemistry Laboratory, dedicated in April, a highly efficient lighting scheme is one of several tightly integrated strategies that contribute to the building's ambitious energy-saving goals: Frick is designed to use 24 percent less site energy than allowed by the 2007 version of ASHRAE 90.1 standard. This building's configuration is a product of both environmental and programmatic goals, according to its architects, London-based Hopkins and Payette Associates of Boston. The 265,000-square-foot structure has two four-story, largely glass-enclosed wings'one on the east for research and another on the west for offices. The pieces are joined by a
Like a beacon, the dynamic glow of the illuminated corner building on Rhode Island Avenue points to a bright future for area residents. The Watha T. Daniel ' Shaw Neighborhood Library (Shaw) was one of the first projects in an ongoing D.C. Public Library initiative to build new facilities with community-friendly spaces and state-of-the-art information technologies. The mandate also stipulates that the buildings meet or exceed LEED Silver certification. According to Peter Cook, Davis Brody Bond principal in charge of the Shaw Library project, light'in particular daylight boosted by electric light and controls'was a significant part of their energy-saving design
Low energy use was a particular priority for the Triskelion, a 1,300-square-foot moveable pavilion commissioned by the nonprofit arts organization FOR-SITE. Designed by Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects, San Francisco, the building consists of three shipping containers arranged at 120-degree angles to define a central skylit atrium. Since May 2010 it has been installed at the Presidio, where it was part of the yearlong Presidio Habitats'an exhibition of artist-created animal habitats distributed around one corner of the national park. The pavilion served as a space for the display of sketches and models. Because Presidio officials required that the building be easily demountable and
Last June, Yotel'a U.K.-based hotel chain inspired by Japanese capsule hotels and luxury airline cabins'opened a location on the far west side of Manhattan. It is just one component within a vast, $800 million, mixed-use complex designed by Arquitectonica. But the hotel, with a facade, public spaces, and 669 rooms by Rockwell Group and lighting firm Focus, possesses its own distinct character. It has a '2001: A Space Odyssey feel,' says Michael Cummings, Focus design director. The hotel's public spaces are illuminated almost exclusively with LEDs. The brightness of the source worked well with the sleek, predominately white and gray
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