Luxor Egypt by VBNB Lighting
The “Hatshepsut” project reinterprets the funerary temple of Egypt’s only female Pharaoh through light. Inspired by its solar alignment, ascending terraces, and carved reliefs, the design creates a journey from the earthly to the divine. Layers of grazing light and shadow reveal hierarchies and textures, giving voice to the architecture and evoking the Queen’s enduring legacy.
At Deir el-Bahari, where cliffs guard the Valley of the Kings, Queen-Pharaoh Hatshepsut and her architect Senenmut built a temple proclaiming her divine ascent. The lighting design retraces that procession from earth to eternity—ramps as luminous ascents, terraces as monumental stages, statues as living presences, sanctuaries as sacred stillness.
Custom LED systems feature super-elliptical and asymmetric optics with tailored diode spacing for perfect uniformity and optimized energy through DALI-CASAMBI control. To preserve the monument, 600 bespoke Aswan sandstone bases—hand-sculpted by Egyptian artisans—anchor fixtures by gravity, avoiding drilling into ancient floors. Handcrafted fiberglass housings imitate sandstone, concealing and protecting equipment and cabling from sun, sand, and impacts. A concealed metallic frame absorbs visitor shocks, preserving aiming and durability. Developed between 2017-2025 with archaeologists, the project was inaugurated in September by Egypt and the Kings of Spain.
