HSBC Facade

 

Illumination Physics was commissioned to help bring to life the first wave of HSBC’S 150th anniversary celebration – the digital makeover of its headquarters at 1 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong. The building makeover is a permanent feature and comes to life every evening between 6.30pm and 11.00pm as well as participating in the nightly world-renowned 'A Symphony of Lights’.

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Illumination Physics was commissioned to help bring to life the first wave of HSBC’S 150th anniversary celebration – the digital makeover of its headquarters at 1 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong. The building makeover is a permanent feature and comes to life every evening between 6.30pm and 11.00pm as well as participating in the nightly world-renowned 'A Symphony of Lights’.
 
Illumination Physics designed three massive media walls that were seamlessly integrated into the glass façades between the refuge floors. These walls range from 880 square metres to 1,100 square metres and consist of 2,652 of illumination Physics’ custom made ‘IP Glass Media' strips which utilize a total of 217,464 RGB LED’s. The three media walls can be used to create one composite image or three separate scenes.
 
The lighting of this extraordinary building has always accentuated its main feature – the ‘Exoskeleton’. This is comprised of two ‘ladder’ trusses which extend the full height of the building. Suspended from the ladders are the horizontal and diagonal brace elements of the exoskeleton. A decision was made to use RGBW fixtures with composite lenses which allowed for a distinct improvement in colour variety and colour mixing capability. The IP Wash 48 was used for the grazing of the main members of the exoskeleton. The IP Wash 24 was utilized with a composite for the Ladder Truss, enabling the accurate lighting of the underside of each rung of the ladder without spill.

Three new light fixtures were designed and manufactured by Illumination Physics specifically for this project.

These walls range from 880 square metres to 1,100 square metres and consist of 2,652 of illumination Physics’ custom made ‘IP Glass Media' strips which utilize a total of 217,464 RGB LED’s

HSBC-images
Custom versions of the Illumination Physics Wash 48 and Wash 24 were designed so that they could be mated to the existing brackets without fuss, speeding the work of Illumination Physics’ installation team. This was vital for the program; 90% of the façade lighting would be installed from the permanent gondolas and in a living building there is competition from a number of tasks requiring the external access equipment.
 
The refuge floors are another major feature of this building. These were re-illuminated using a wide angle lens version of the IP Wash 48 which has resulted in more saturated, enriched and brighter colours. The replacement of the previous metal halide with LED dramatically reduced the electrical consumption with a saving of approximately 90%, depending on the programming of the dynamic display.
 
Every evening, the massive media walls visually communicate the tale of the one hundred and fifty year history of HSBC in a spectacular fashion. At other times the walls display dynamic diamond and triangular kaleidoscopes that are a virtual metaphor of the building’s physical exoskeleton. The media is always combined with the façade lighting and together they create a lighting display that is synergistic.
 
The same treatment has been used to improve the building’s performance during the nightly ‘A Symphony of Lights’. The media walls are used as animated lighting effects that ‘dance’ in time with the music in the city-wide audio visual display at 8pm every day.