Suspended Animation

The Warehouse Mall – Sabahiya Kuwait

The Warehouse mall is the latest creation of the Tamdeen Group, a retail specialist property developer based in Kuwait.
    
The warehouse is a modern take on what a mall should look like. High ceilings, spacious avenues and large open spaces within the mall promote a feeling of freedom one associates with being outdoors. Given that the air temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius, indoor spaces like The Warehouse provide an important psychological haven for people to stroll, shop, eat or be entertained, in comfort
    
Any suspended feature lighting must be much larger than normal, or the fixture will seem insignificant.

Doreen Stephan of Scott Lighting Design was the consultant engaged to solve these problems of scale.

The most challenging area of the mall is the main entrance. Most visitors first experience is of a spacious ground floor lobby dominated by tall freestanding escalators that sweep visitors to the mezzanine where the space becomes a vast atrium.
    
It was vital to create a sense of arrival. Stephan realised that just lighting the space was insufficient, some fascinating physical structure must occupy the vast void.
SuspendedAnimation_IMG_3

THE BRIEF

Her concept design envisaged a suspended structure, part sculpture part chandelier. 402 light fixtures would be suspended from the roof truss, occupying a space 55m long and varying in width from 9m at the head and 6m at the tail. 

A tubular linear direct view fixture would attach to a lightweight suspension pole of differing lengths. The fixture would be illuminated at both ends and there would be a pivot point in the middle where it would be welded to the suspension pole. Stephan specified three different angles at the pivot, flat, 15 degrees and 30 degrees. Each fixture could be rotated to any point of the compass. Finally, the length of every suspension pole would be different. Starting high, the light sculpture would flow across the atrium and cascade in mid-space flying down with the escalators into the lobby. 

Reminiscent of a waterfall of luminaires or a metaphor for a vast flock of birds all heading irregularly in one direction. 

The suspension is static, but the impression is of animation.  

 

A new direction for a very large chandelier

OUR SOLUTION

The first task was to create an AutoCAD model from the concept drawing and artist’s impression. From this we created a plan and elevation, to produce a layout that was representative of the design intent. 

Additional spans of U channel would be required to span the distance between the roof truss members because they are 9100mm apart. The suspension poles would be spaced 2000mm apart approximately. 

The next task was to unitize the lengths of the suspension poles. They range in length from approximately 9100mm to 18200mm. Each length would be made up of a number of sections connected.

For transportation a maximum pole length of 2000mm was set. To minimise the number of different types, 2000mm and 1000mm sections would be used typically, plus one bottom section that varied in length by 100mm increments.  

The light fixture was developed so that there was only one type. This was done by creating an adjustable bracket that connects the fixture to the suspension pole and allows rotation and tilt to be set during installation. 

DC Constant current power would be delivered to the fixture by a starter cable concealed inside the suspension pole. A small connector was factory fitted to the fixture and the starter cable. Once connected it was hidden inside the pole. 

The DMX drivers would be located on the roof truss at the periphery of the display so that they would be accessible. Individual dimming control of every fixture is possible. illumination Physics will return to The Warehouse to commission a control system of our own design and program dynamic dimming scenes. This will create a strong impression of movement, as if the light sculpture was really flowing from high to low or vice versa. 

All the structural calculations were verified by HS+A Consultants in Hong Kong. illumination Physics produced a highly detailed installation manual for the contractor, and it was installed without incident. 

 
SuspendedAnimation_IMG_5

CONCLUSION

Call it what you will, the suspended light sculpture or Chandelier solves the problem created by the size of the atrium and provides impact and a sense of arrival. illumination Physics has taken a great concept and transformed it into a practical solution.

Download Fact Sheet