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The Lighting of Radisson Blu, Larnaca Cyprus
illumination Physics is proud to present a façade lighting project in Larnica, Cyprus.
The Radisson Blu Hotel has been open for business since November 2018. One of the new breeds of hospitality venues in the Cypriot market, this Radisson is actually the first business hotel set in an evolving economy.
The pace of development in Cyprus is rapid. The influx of ex-patriot investment and the opening of casinos in Cyprus for the first time has created an exciting but competitive market. Developers must make strong visual statements if they are to stand out in the rapidly changing business landscape.
Photo by: UNSEEN VIEWS
(Charis Solomou Architectural Photography)
Fortunately, the new hotel occupies a prominent site with good visibility over long distances, as it naturally has a commanding position amongst the built environment.
The Radisson Blu was to be illuminated externally with dynamic lighting by illumination Physics to draw attention, as well as provide a sense of arrival critical to the marketing of the property.
A statement was required.
Therein lay the genesis of the lighting design that was conceived of by Cypriot lighting designers Archtube.
Photo by: UNSEEN VIEWS (Charis Solomou Architectural Photography)
OUR BRIEF
Our brief was to illuminate the chosen façades as evenly and prominently as possible, but with two constraints – budget and the limited positions that could be used for mounting the luminaires. The building floorplan occupies almost all of the site at ground level and a very limited setback would be possible.
The property consists of two towers connected by a podium. The façade containing the main entrance is entirely populated with guestroom windows and other balconies. This face of the building would be naturally illuminated and did not require external treatment other than signage.
It was the slab sides of the building that required illumination as well as the façades of the main tower and secondary tower that face each other across what would be otherwise very dark space.
Our instruction was to produce a synchronised dynamic display of indirect illumination that would be as homogeneous as possible given the limited locations that could be used to mount the light fixtures.
We would have access to limited upstands, custom designed pole mounts and parapets.
OUR SOLUTION
The dimensions of the building are modest; it does not exceed 18-storeys in height for the main tower and 4 less for the secondary tower.
This meant that even the tallest façades would fall into the range of two new illumination Physics light fixtures – the IP Circular Wash Quattro (a 270-watt RGBW wash light) and the IP Rectangular Wash Mono (a 220-watt RGBW wash light).
The new powerful circular wash light uses heat pipe technology to cool the LEDs and represents a significant step forward for a powerful light fixture in such a compact and attractive package. Where appropriate rather than using a powerful circular fixture, we choose rectangular fixtures producing a rectangular beam to add to the overall illumination.
Extensive modelling of the lighting was done in the virtual world of Dialux. Our experience told us that the two powerful lights could provide most of the coverage and we were proven correct. However, it became necessary to incorporate a number of other IP Circular Wash fixtures to complete the map and fill in the areas that were difficult to cover. Two other RGBW types were used on the parapets of the two towers:
- IP Circular Wash Quattro 4 (30-watt)
- IP Circular Wash Quattro 15 (140-watt)
In illumination Physics nomenclature, the descriptions are literal: ‘Circular’ or ‘Rectangular’ defines the shape; ‘Quattro’ states that a 4-in-1 LED package is employed; ‘Mono’ refers to single LEDs.
MOUNTING THE LUMINAIRES
This was actually our greatest challenge, particularly for the two banks of twelve 270-watt lights that would illuminate the two prominent façades of the main tower.
The lights would be mounted into a frame designed by illumination Physics so that the grouping and spacing were fixed according to our optimal calculations.
The lighting of these two façades was complicated by the fact that the achievable and very shallow set-back was different on one side to the other and two focusses were required.
To achieve this, overlappingbeams of light with different lens angles were used. The parapet-mounted lights were also mounted on custom brackets designed by illumination Physics.
In addition to the façade lighting, we supplied the flag pole lights in white light. The IP Circular Series – Quattro 3-6 (25-watt) was ideal. Flag poles are a standard requirement of Radisson for all their hotels worldwide.
Photo by: UNSEEN VIEWS (Charis Solomou Architectural Photography)
DRIVING AND CONTROLLING
THE LUMINAIRES
All the fixtures would be of the AC type with on-board drivers. The climate in Cyprus is not extreme and there was no need to use the more heat tolerant, but more complex to install, DC type which uses remote drivers.
The AC fixtures combine AC power and DMX in the same cable and the availability of ‘in and out’ connectors on the body of the luminaire mean that where necessary, they can be easily connected in groups. From a cost perspective, this is highly efficient.
The control network and all data wiring drawings were produced by illumination Physics.
The lighting was programmed in Cyprus using the Clarity PC- based package because of its ease of use and extreme reliability. We also supplied the hardware for the DMX lighting data network throughout the hotel.
Martin Opolka, illumination Physics’ European manager, and illumination Physics partner and Technical Director, Peter Kemp, attended the on-site testing and commissioning, accompanied by illumination Physics’ own programmer who commissioned and programmed the control system. Our work also included testing and the rectification of all data connections, including the aiming/focusing of all lights and the installation and setup of the complete control system.
Prior to the system being installed, an illumination Physics representative attended the site to instruct the installers on the installation of the data network and other requirements for our systems.
This level of care is typical of illumination Physics’ inclusive project management in which we can guarantee a perfect outcome by controlling all aspects of the work.
CONTROL SYSTEM
The system consists of:
- Touch screen laptop
- The Quadcore lighting playback controller
- Network switch
The components of the control system were configured and preprogramed in Australia prior to arrival on-site for reasons of efficiency.
The Quadcore provides the playback of the various programs using its inbuilt scheduler. The Touch screen PC provides an interface to the functions of the Quadcore as well as a programming device. The PC also has ‘Team Viewer’ installed so that illumination Physics can provide remote support, diagnostics and programming as well as maintenance. This was done in conjunction with the hotel’s IT department, ensuring that we did not compromise the hotel’s network.
The lighting programs at Radisson Blu are automated, however, the laptop provides a manual interface using the touch screen so that the client can specify particular sequences for particular days.
The lighting control playback unit includes an astronomical clock and the location in Cyprus has been stored in the device’s memory.
The Quadcore then uses that time/day to activate sequences automatically. The laptop can also be used to monitor various aspects of the lighting playback controller.
Other photos show some displays that allow you to monitor the lighting playback controller from the laptop. Another photo shows the touch screen and buttons you can select to see – the program schedule (this activates the automatic sequences using the time clock in the controller).
In summary, the system we setup provides a very useful control for a hotel client. Preprogramed scenes/sequences can easily be manually selected by the client via the large buttons on the laptop touch screen, which can be labelled with specific names and colours for easy identification.
Photo by: UNSEEN VIEWS (Charis Solomou Architectural Photography)
The standard sequence is programmed in consultation with the client and automatically runs every day, activated by the time of day or sunrise/sunset using Quadcore’s astronomical clock function.
PRODUCT LIST
Radisson Blu Hotel Floodlights
- 24 x iP Circular Wash Quattro 36-270W AC RGB
- 6 x iP Circular Wash Quattro 15-140W AC RGB
- 8 x iP Circular Wash Quattro 4-30W AC RGB
- 2 x iP Rectangular Wash Mono 104-220W AC RGB
- Main Façade Controls and Data Hardware
- 1 x Quadcore DMX playback unit
- 1 x Network Switch
- 1 x Touch Screen Laptop
- 1 x UPS for control equipment
- 1 x control equipment rack
- 1 x cabling for control equipment
- 1 x rack accessories
- 2 x DMX Splitter 6-way wall mount
Flag Pole
- 8 x iP Circular Wash Quattro 12-25W WW 10 degree AC onboard on/off in grey colour