By @DANILOF light + perception studio
The Wave is a LEED gold redesigned office building in the center of Athens. It is situated along the busy main axis that links the historical center to the Athenian Riviera and the port.
The intention from the early stages of the design was to seamlessly “weave” darkness with low light in a sustainable lighting concept that would respond to the fresh identity of the Wave and to its unique architecture. A couple of years later subtle luminous variations reinterpret each evening the façade in a barely noticeable rhythmic movement.
Bespoke low luminance lighting systems, designed specifically for the morphology of each fin, are accommodated in a dedicated cove. Each custom luminaire has full power at just 2W/m. However the lighting scheme is programmed at much lower values resulting in total operating façade lighting power of less than 0.6kW!
This project aims to arrive at a night sky conscious synergy between sustainability and aesthetics.
Sustainability Approach
1.Darkness and low luminance incorporated into the initial design concept in terms of Aesthetics. Subtle variations of monochromatic CRI90 step2 white light working with darkness an not against it. A Dark sky conscious design in an urban context.
2.Each bespoke luminaire has a 100mm pixel pitch and full power at just 2W/m. However the lighting scheme is programmed at even less power through DMX dim to dark controls. The resulting total facade operating power is less than 0.6kW!
3. Instead of specifying encapsulated pixel led strip custom designed luminaires with special joining corners have been developed. This allowed for
a) aluminum profiles with significant mass as heat sinks to extend LED life
b) Replaceable UV stable opal Diffusers below the clear safety glass for maintenance and color matching.
c) In case of a failure only a part of a fixture needs to be replaced.
