LIGHT ARCHITECTURE: PROJECTS
INTERCHANGE PAVILION 2020
“A meeting place for the public to enjoy"
Interchange Pavilion is a sculptural landmark at South Eveleigh Village in Sydney, Australia. A new architectural pavilion and public artwork created by artist and architect Chris Fox, illuminated by Westudio. Peeling from the ground plane up, geometries arc overhead to create an embracing volume and a point of confluence. The pavilion acts as a meeting place for the public to enjoy and space to host events for the community. Drawing inspiration from the precinct’s rail history, artist Chris Fox worked with the salient geometries of the railroad switch; the point at which a train can change its course, moving from one trajectory to another. The work is a tribute to the diverse stories and journeys of people connected with the Eveleigh Rail Yards.
The lighting vision from the beginning was to ensure the space would be as attractive and usable by night, as it is by day. Not only illuminating the structure to ensure that users feel safe and secure, but seamlessly concealing fixtures within the architectural skin to enhance its ever-twisting form and impressive scale. Illumination needed to be simple and effective with minimal fixture sizes concealed internally and externally with elegance.
The Switches: the inspiration of the train tracks changing course, small in-ground marker lights provided a spark of light at the ‘switch’ point locations bringing homage to the design.
The Drama Spots: a cluster of miniature, high-powered spotlights located at the peak of the pavilion to create ‘pools’ of light on the floor below.
The Inner Shell: inside the Pavilion the lighting is integrated within the ‘tracks’ to provide a delicate wash of light to highlight the inner twists and turns. Each luminaire required different aiming angles, tilts and outputs to create a deliberate drop-off of light washing down the warm timber cladding.
The Outer Shell: working in contrast, the cooler lighting to the external shells is designed to provide illumination from ground level fading off towards the peak of the pavilion. A series of spots lights positioned carefully around the structure to ‘cross-illuminate’ the skin and provide a uniform wash of light avoiding any hotspots and glare.
Getting the lighting solution from concept to completion required working closely with Chris and his team through studio reviews, creating prototypes, testing and exploring conceptual ideas, software modelling and several onsite mock-ups. The luminaires specified became an integral part of the overall design.
EZRA 2020
“Delicious dining, the way to the heart"
A small restaurant located in Sydney’s Potts Point. Refurbishment project of a heritage listed building and lit to illuminate only what was needed - the food!
Fun with a twist of drama and decadence.
UK PAVILION 2015
“Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life"
This project chose to focus on the importance of the honey bee to global food production. The 'Hive' inspired structure formed the centre piece for the UK pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015. Rhiannon was the lighting designer for the project during her time working for BDP, Manchester, UK. The project was a collaboration between Artist; Wolfgang Buttress, Stage One and BDP.
Working to an incredibly small budget, the lighting design came to life with integrated luminaires into the architecture wherever possible. Seamless lighting details and a glowing structure centrepiece to achieve maximum effect with minimal expense. Integrated handrail and skirt-mounted fixtures delineate pathways through the landscape to a bright feature wall full of information about bees—dubbed the Swarm.