How do demonstrate new lighting products, their capabilities and effects, when no one has actually used them in an actual lighting project? Well, one way is to mock up real lighting installations in not-so-real indoor and outdoor settings and take some photographs - we have all seen the rather clinical-looking results in a hundred-and-one lighting catalogues and brochures. But quite often the right kind of interior, or exterior, environment isn't available - or is simply too complex or physically demanding to imitate faithfully in a semi-theatrical set.
"During the evolution of our new Workplace Lighting brochure, we realised that in the modern company building, there are simply too many different types of work space to take the over-used theatrical route," states Mike Jankowski, Design & Marketing Director of Concord:marlin. "So we had the idea of creating a 'virtual building' - in effect an imaginary HQ facility for Concord:marlin itself, which could become an ideal demonstration platform for our products and services. The building would provide a series of dramatic architectural spaces, including offices, meeting rooms, seminar rooms, exhibition/presentation areas, dining areas, studios and circulation spaces, which could be illuminated realistically in different ways."
Powell Tuck Associates (PTA) who have collaborated with Concord:marlin on a number of design projects over the years, were chosen as architects for this exercise. Practice principal, Julian Powell Tuck, takes up the story: "We could have sited the virtual building anywhere, but we chose to use the exact site of Concord:marlin's existing factory in Feltham, in west London. By siting it there and designing it to a real brief, we could give the project a real architectural context - and emphasise the company's ownership of the project. We didn't want to offer a fake environment that many architects would see through - and wouldn't be interested in," Powell Tuck adds. The building was created by PTA, using Autocad, and modelled by specialists GMJ, using 3D Studio.
Due to its west London location, PTA conceived the building as a huge built 'sign', using architecture and light, which could be seen from a number of locations. From the air on the approach to Heathrow, the extensive sloping roof of the wedge-shaped structure glows at night and is animated by activity on the roof terraces and the light shafts sculpted into it. From the raised section of motorway leading to the M3 and M25, a glowing sign can be seen within the circulation tower at the North of the building, as it rises above the highest point of the slope of the roof. Finally, from secondary roads within Feltham, another large graphic sign can be seen glowing inside the cafe/seminar space, as the building appears to emerge from below the entrance piazza.
Environmental considerations have not been neglected in the new building. "The vast glass roof is angled towards the south and provides the perfect opportunity to use photo-voltaic panels, to generate electricity," explains Julian Powell Tuck. "The wedge-shaped section also allows for considerable shading to the glass screens, which open onto the terraces, while vertical external louvres are used to clad the east and west elevations."
The approach to the building is dominated by a view of the rising bank of glazed offices, which springs from a stone entrance piazza. All car parking is located below ground, accessed by a long ramp which descends alongside a dramatic planted bank, cut back to the lower ground floor. This can be used to mount practical demonstrations of landscape lighting.
The reception area itself is the pivotal circulation point between the two key parts of the building. The public part, comprising auditorium, seminar rooms, exhibition areas, bar and cafe spaces, is located underground below the piazza, so remains cool and dark for presentations and lighting demonstrations, even on the brightest summer days. The more private company areas are accessed via an internal street - vertical circulation is located at the higher north end of the building and rises up past the various stepped-back floor spaces to the company beacon sign at the buildingÕs apex.
Images of the new 'virtual building' will soon feature strongly in Concord:marlin's new Workplace Lighting catalogue, launched in May, 2003. However, the new virtual facility will eventually be used for demonstrating practical and creative applications for Concord:marlin products, via seminars, CD-ROMs and the website. On screen, the building will be approached via a 'fly through' animation - the 'visitor' will then be able to fly into the reception area, where they can be 'walked' to an adjacent 'showroom'.
Within the virtual showroom they can be shown a series of products, or view lighting applications, under different headings, such as Work, Presentation, Reception, Hospitality, Circulation and Exterior. By picking any of these, selected parts of the building will be highlighted on a small 3D model. Click on this and a larger-scale model of the space will appear - the visitor will then run through different ways of lighting the space.
Equally important, all the lit spaces will be photometrically truthful, rather than simply artistic impressions, having been generated using the powerful LIGHTSCAPE software (see box). This computer rendering programme bases its images on real surface textures and colours - and genuine photometric data from real lighting equipment.
"We believe that when it is up and running, the new virtual building concept will prove an invaluable tool for our specifiers and clients," says Mike Simpson, Concord:marlin's Lighting Design Director. "In the fast-moving world of commercial lighting, companies have to be at the cutting edge of technology and design technique. We believe that with developments in software and processing power, a futuristic approach to lighting design like our virtual building will be come commonplace in the next few years."
information:
Concord:marlin