Edinburgh, Scotland
DESIGN TEAM:
KSLD | EFLA Lighting Design
PHOTO CREDIT:
© David Barbour Photography; Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, Photographer: Katielee Arrowsmith
Another outstanding project from this year’s batch of IALD awards was the lighting design for the Scottish Parliament Debating Chamber in Edinburgh. By KSLD | EFLA Lighting Design, the soft light from new bespoke led fixtures lends a healthy glow to parliamentarians. Judges called these fixtures a “technically brilliant solution” as how to light a room that functions effectively as a TV studio and an accessible public space.
The first step was eliminating the old metal-halide lights as they were expensive, difficult to maintain and obsolete. New HDTV cameras require upgraded lighting to meet broadcasting standards. With a mere six weeks to develop and install the lighting design, KSLD completed multiple site trials and time-lapse daylight studies to determine that the best solution, and one that would honor Enric Miralles’ original architecture, was a custom suspended luminaire. The design integrates suspensions and concealed wiring into the complex ceiling structure.
The new LED arrays have custom aluminum extrusion, bespoke precision turning, multi-axis adjustment, acrylic design, stringent output targets, individual controllability, deep dimming, HD broadcast compatibility and an extended lifetime.
Based on where current members of parliament are seated, as well as glazing studies of the windows and considerations of where fixed louvres can be placed, a diagram was created to manage the placement of the led arrays. Supplemental spotlights serve for front fill as needed. The entire system is controlled through dali controls, which saves 60% on energy over the previous scheme.
