Geneva, Switzerland
Client: HSBC
Team: MAKE Architects, Itten+Brechbühl, Rigot+Rieben
Since its completion in 2014, HSBC Quay des Bergues is widely recognised for its quality of space and refined use of artificial light. A series of seven renovated buildings with historically listed facades are merged together in a single development to become the new corporate office headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Architectural lighting is thoroughly ingrained in the fabric of the building, permeating the entire project from the centralised feature grand atrium, typical office levels, to the trading floor, staff floor amenities and restrooms. From spaces conducive of productivity to those made for focus and intimacy, architectural lighting is fundamental to the success of the project.
Photo credits: ©Vincent Jendly ©John MacLean
AWARDS
2014- FX International Interior Design Awards - Winner - Global Project of 2014
2014- FX International Interior Design Awards - Shortlisted - Workspace Environment
2015 Lighting Design Awards - Shortlisted - International Project (Interiors)
2015 Building Awards - Shortlisted - International Project of the Year
London, UK
Team: AL_A, Asik Kapadia, Simon Stephens, Arup, GROSS. MAX., Mark Filip, Soundings and DP9.
In a broad sense the lighting tells the story about the Thames as a time piece, reconnecting the Thames to people in a meaningful way and becoming a visual mnemonic for people’s intuitive understanding of the river's tidal behaviour and the mysterious effects of moonrise and moonset. The use of a simple dynamic lighting system allows for the lifting and the shifting of light to elegantly illuminate bridges together with the banks as a continuous and luminous thread.
In this performance, each individually controlled luminaire has a purpose. Whether they are fitted with optical controls to illuminate the foreshores or fitted with shields to cut off light towards the water, or tuned to a specific colour, each has a role in the choreography and composition of light with great sensitivity to flight paths of migrating birds, bats (even airplanes) and the river habitat. This precision eliminates wastefulness.
The duration between sunset and twilight is when attention to the sky shifts below the horizon to the river. Illumination slowly wanders up the river as if chasing the sun yet stays for the night.
At high tide, the shallow elevations of the river walls and bridge fronts are illuminated with warm white light thereby creating a continuous band down the river.
During the shift to low tide, attention is brought to the arched spaces between the water and undercarriages, as a cool white light moves with increasing illumination from land towards the middle, filling the void of the tide rolling out towards the sea.
As the receding water exposes the foreshores, a series of luminaires along the river walls help to create new night time public space, drawing more people to the river edge reclaiming its beaches.
When the tide rolls in, the light is pushed upward to the faces of the bridges, joining the band of light along the banks. Using a painterly approach, shadows of the bridges are simultaneously rendered in a subtle blue light. This heightened contrast emphasises and renders the bridges' structures and ornaments.
Instrumental to both of these modes is the reflective surface of the water, which doubles the lighting effect and completes each scenario.
The Illuminated River will be a beacon for sustainability to think "local" and "renewable". This involves the complete use of energy efficient LED luminaire, retrofitting all existing bridge lighting with LED sources and using a control system to achieve not only the choreography of lighting but also maximise energy savings across the scheme.
It also involves engagement with public policy lighting and energy efficiency and encourage London skyline and buildings surrounding the river to to be in more alignment with the International Dark Sky Lighting Ordinances for urban lighting.
We are teaming up with the innovative start-up company Open Utility which offers a viable solution for renewable energy. Through its peer to peer energy matching platform, Piclo, this interface will not only be an educational tool on renewable energy but also raise awareness of power demand and reduction. This partnership will also ensure that all energy for the Illuminated River scheme is produced within a 25 mile radius of the Thames.
As our commitment to sustaining local habitat, our suggestions for safeguarding the Thames’s ecology are not built on short-term vision, but considered in a broader perspective of time.
These are the bold stories - poetic, ephemeral, technological and meaningful, we wish to unfold through intricate and well considered lighting as a symbol of London's unifying diversity and a beacon for progressive sustainability.
AWARDS
2016- Illuminated River Competition - Shortlisted
Awarded Honorable Mention
Bangkok, Thailand
Client: Vogue, Pace
Team: David Collins Studio
The Vogue Lounge is one of Bangkok’s most exclusive establishments with an elegantly detailed interior evoking the atmosphere and mystique of early Hollywood and a stunning exterior terrace providing views on Bangkok’s newest destination – Mahanakhon Tower. Meticulous details and artisanal materiality throughout the interior instil a sense of opulent refinement. Evoking a photographer’s studio or the shimmer of the paparazzi, stylish framing projectors are carefully trained on photographs selected from the Vogue collection as well as works by Andy Warhol and other 20th century artist. Decorative pendants define an intimate space beneath concentric plaster shells, where couples can mingle in unrivaled ambiance.
Photo Credits: ©Aey Srirath Somsawat
Bangkok, Thailand
Client: PACE Development Corporation
Team: PACE Development Corporation, Buro: Ole Scheeren, Palmer & Turner Co., L49
The pinnacle of lifestyle, retail and luxury living are intertwined at Mahanakhon Tower to create a 24 hour destination where the complexity of life is active around the clock. SEAM is providing lead architectural lighting design for the iconic 77-storey tower in the centre of Bangkok, including the programmable ‘pixelated’ exterior facade, landscape plaza areas, retail interiors, outdoor retail terraces as well as the Ritz Carlton Residential Guest Areas. SEAM is working closely with Buro:Ole Scheeren, Palmer & Turner and David Collins Studio to provide a modern, elegant lighting design language for the MahaNakhon development. Crisp architectural details are sharpened with integrated lighting that give precedence to geometric precision in line with the architect’s conceptual aspirations. Simultaneously, intelligent systems design allows for fine tuning of the lighting environment to suit the flow of activities and lifestyles.
Currently under construction
Images ©PACE Corporation
Melbourne, Australia
Client: QIC / Seventh Wave
Design Team: Softroom Architects, ACME, Universal Design Studio, Gross Max, Space Agency
Local Consultants: Buchan Group, Electrolight, Probuild
With full completion in 2016, this high profile retail project is the product of intense collaboration between London based emergent designers and Melbourne based executive team. The visionary development is comprised of a new extension to the 1960’s shopping centre, a new Town Square and public realm areas, redesigned community library and innovative facade facelift to car park structures. Eastland establishes a vibrant night time destination for leisure and retail - a new urban centre. Architectural lighting is utilised to enhance each of the character areas while also merging the different zones in a seamless manner.
Photo Credits: Stephanie Rooney Photography
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival, Mini
Team: Asif Khan Architects, Conservatory Archives, Aldworth James & Bond, iGuzzini
Asif Khan's "Forests" installation for London Design Festival 2016 explores the idea of 'third places' in the city. Three pavilions, Connect, Create and Relax, are located within walking distance of one another. Their clear material language creates a deliberate contrast to Shoreditch's urban setting. They are all rectangular forms, with walls made from several layers of transparent, corrugated polycarbonate.
The challenge for the lighting was to create an object which could, from the outside, compete with the bustling night life and urban environment that is Shoreditch. Whilst internally staying true to the concept of living spaces, treating the pavilions as extensions of our personal space, being completely removed from the chaos of London life.
Images courtesy of London Design Festival
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival
Team: Alison Brooks Architects, Arup, ZÜBLIN Timber, AHEC, Atrium, MCI Grupo
Alison Brooks Architects' design for London Design Festival's 2016 landmark pavilion presents a cross-laminated tulipwood structure set in the Parade Ground of Chelsea College of Arts in London from 17 September until 12 October.
Touching the ground at a single point, the 34m long, curved, hollow tube showcases the structural potential of American tulipwood.
Images: ©Alison Brooks Architects
Paris, France
Client: Galeries Lafayette
Team: AL_A
SEAM is delighted to be working together with AL_A on the transformation of the flagship Galeries Lafayette department store located on the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris.
Photo courtesy of AL_A
London, UK
Client: Brookefield Multiplex
Team: Foster+Partners, Hurley Plamer Flatt
Currently under construction, Foster+Partners is delivering a landmark residential tower on the edge of the City of London. SEAM is providing concept and design guardian services for facade lighting.
Images: ©Brookfield ©Foster + Partners
London, UK
Client: IGI Izaki Group Investments
Team: Fletcher Priest Architects, ODA-architecture, Alexandra Steed URBAN
“Effortlessly cool, quintessentially urban design”
Situated in the heart of Shoreditch, Long & Waterson is a residential refurbishment, extension and new build that creates a new garden oasis in the middle of one of London’s most intensely creative neighbourhoods. The project includes a central landscaped garden designed by award-winning Alexandra Steed URBAN which is framed by refurbished workshop buildings and the newly built Waterson Building. SEAM has designed lighting for all front-of-house areas, including landscape, reception, lounge, gym and spa facilities, apartments and penthouse suites. Our approach focuses on the quality of the architecture and landscape, taking cues from the original Long Street Workshops craft heritage and allowing the light sources themselves to become an integral part of the craft vocabulary and uniqueness of the development.
"London's coolest new address" - longandwaterson.com
Images: ©Izaki Group
Bangkok, Thailand
Client: PACE Development Corporation
Team: David Collins Studio, L49
The Ritz-Carlton Residences are luxury apartments set within the iconic MahaNakhon development in the centre of Bangkok. Working closely with David Collins Studio, SEAM has developed lighting designs for the exterior drop off, main entrance lobby, amenity floor areas including private theatre, game room spa, pool, restaurant, resident's lounge areas, meeting rooms and cafe. Lighting for exterior terraces have been designed in collaboration with L49.
Images: ©Ritz Carlton Residences ©David Collins Studio
London, UK
Team: Gianni Botsford Architects, ME Construction, Winters Electrical, FoxTuckett, Chiara Ferrari Studio
Breathing a second life into a Grade II listed residence is sensitively executed in this well-balanced architectural play between historical elements and modern enhancements. This attitude of optimising the potential is carried through the lighting where a custom home system provides easy control of the tailored scheme. Working in collaboration with Gianni Botsford Architects, ME Construction, Chiara Ferrari Studio, and Winters Electrical, SEAM provided full lighting design services from concept to completion with final aiming and focusing for this 5-level residence located in Marylebone. Special features of the residence include a bespoke modern kitchen, feature glass and steel stair, feature light sculpture set within the original listed staircase, new build garden room and roof terrace.
Completed - 2012
Photo Credits: ©Edmund Sumner
Soutampton, UK
Client: Maggie's Foundation
Team: AL_A
SEAM is honoured to be working together with AL_A to deliver a remarkeable space for people handling the impact of cancer to their lives.
Images: ©AL_A
Chester, UK
Client: Chester City Council
Team: ACME, AKT-II, Vogt Landscape Architects, WSP, David Bonnett Associates, Vectos
As part of Chester's £300m investment into the city centre revitalisation, SEAM is providing lighting design services for ACME's ambitious vision for a vibrant retail-led mixed use development. Planning was awarded in September 2016. The first phase of works for a new cinema and theatre district will begin on site in 2017.
Images: ©Acme
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival
Team: Grafton Architects, Graphic Relief, Irish Design 2015, Millimetre,TM Lighting
Light emphasises the exquisite texture of Grafton Architects’ concrete monoliths but builds drama in the in-between spaces, enhancing the experience of the exhibit and the presence of the artwork. Typically these moments are lost in galleries where objects alone are the subject of interest. Unveiled at the V&A Tapestry Gallery as part of London Design Festival 2015, each three meter tall concrete fin relates to a letter in the Ogham alphabet and each letter symbolises a native Irish tree, calling to mind ancient Irish and British sites with standing stones, like Lettergorman in County Cork and Stonehenge in England. The scheme aimed to achieve maximum effect while insuring the conservation of the highly sensitive surrounding tapestries.
Photo Credits: ©Ed Reeve
Bangkok, Thailand
Client: Central Pattana Public Co.
Team: Synthesis Design + Architecture, A49 Architects, Foundry of Space, Trop Design
The Central World Expansion is a new retail centre with upscale food & beverage outlets, designed by London and Los Angeles based Synthesis - Design + Architecture for Central Pattana Corporation. As a new icon for a well established retailer in Southeast Asia, the new Central World Expansion building is designed as a sculptural feature giving CPN presence on the main shopping avenue along Ploenchit Road. The former Central World shopping centre was set back from the main touristic traffic. New lighting technologies are incorporated into the architect’s perforated cladding system. For the interiors, integrated lighting features the organic surfaces of rich materials that clad and hide the bulkhead services and storefront systems that feature the individual retail tenants. The geometry of the open retail circulation is based on vortexes derived from an analysis of pedestrian flow and serve to connect the main routes from street level and the BTS elevated rail to the existing Central World shopping centre. Within these vortexes are areas for rest, events and performances that tract activity and increase dwell time.
Completed December 2013
Photo Credits: ©Synthesis-DNA
Cairo, Egypt
Client: Rooya Group
Team: Zaha Hadid Architects, GrossMax Landscape, AKTII, Hoare Lea, SpaceAgency
Unique lighting design solutions support the signature architectural identity of the extensive Stone Towers Development in Cairo, Egypt. Consisting of 18 corporate towers, luxury hotel, two levels of underground car park, a public realm landscape with 5 retail clusters the extensive 21-hectare site is set to become a key economic and cultural hub. SEAM was appointed to provide lighting design services for all public areas of the development including feature facade lighting and atria for all towers plus facade lighting for the 5-star hotel. An intricate centralised landscape known as 'The Delta' provided key opportunities to integrate landscape lighting into the Wayfinding and Signage design by SpaceAgency. Lighting strategies for the Stone Towers start at the urban scale - understanding the different identities of a large mixed-use development, its varying perceptions on approach, and complex movements – and proceed through a hierarchy of architectural spatial systems that encompass the entirety of the site. Whist achieving aesthetic fluidity, the lighting design carefully considered the complex dynamics of different participants through the site and supported these dynamic relationships functionally through light.
Images ©Zaha Hadid Architects ©SEAM Design
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival
Team: dRMM, NUSSLI, ARUP, AHEC, Lumenpulse
London Design Festival 2013
Like a folly in the landscape the Endless Stair design from dRMM has evolved from "an Escher-like game of perception and circulation" where composition and social possibilities meet. The lighting design and strategies promote these various interactions by enhancing the juxtapositional relationships of surface/solid, solid/void and disorientation/configuration through the use of carefully placed and aimed luminaires provided by Lumenpulse. The lighting controls and sequencing enhance particular features to express these juxtapositions creating an interactive play between the physical structure and the ephemeral nature of light.
Photo Credits: ©James Newton Photography
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival
Team: Barber & Osgerby, BMW, London Design Festival, Arup, Millimetre, ETC
As part of the 2014 London Design Festival, Barber and Osgerby's Double Space installation for BMW features two huge mirror structures suspended in the grand barrel vaulted Raphael Gallery at the V&A. The Raphael Cartoons themselves are reflected and distorted in the panels as they slowly rotate above visitors. As the installation takes on the richness of the surrounding paintings and architecture, SEAM's strategy for this installation is to focus the lighting on the surrounding Cartoons, adding depth and dimension to the experience. The curators’ response was exuberant in their excitement at the drama created by revealing for the first time the depth of colour in the artwork. This architectural lighting was made possible through the use of LED framing projectors provided by ETC, whose colour rendering provided optimal illumination without degradation to the priceless works of art.
Photo Credits: ©London Design Festival
Dubai, UAE
Client: EMAAR
EMAAR group invited SEAM design to Dubai to review the lighting and architectural design for the Dubai Mall set within the larger Dubai Downtown Development. Lighting and architectural assessment took into consideration the current design, pedestrian flows, key views and analysis. SEAM provided lighting design strategies and recommendations to reduce visual clutter, create a more comfortable retail environment with proposed improvements to the installed lighting systems, lighting controls and light balance.
Accra, Ghana
Team: Metonym Design, Ramboll, Theatre Projects
SEAM is delighted to be part of the ambitious vision to bring a state-of-the-art performance pavilion to Ghana and to help create a new venue to herald the design and performance excellence of Africa.
Images ©Metonym Design
For more information, see the following video
https://vimeo.com/179554105
Doha, Qatar
Team: ACME, AKTII
Site specific architectural lighting design was developed to create an iconic landmark along the waterfront, that would help to generate a destination shopping & leisure environment while addressing the various bridge uses and occupancy from early evening to late night. As part of the Lusail development in Qatar, the two pedestrian souq bridges were proposed to interconnect the Corniche Souq at the waterfront of the Qetaifan Islands. The bridge design, developed by ACME consisted of concrete arch structure working in conjunction with a system of intersecting concrete walls. These archways create several meandering pedestrian paths across the bridge and define a new, modern souq shopping experience by knitting together pedestrian views and movement back into the waterfront context.
Images: ©Acme ©SEAM Design
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival
Team: AL_A, Arup, AHEC, iGuzzini
AL_A's design for Timber Wave set out to explore the limits of material strength of the wood as well as the fabrication method to create a 12m high, red-oak sculptural archway at the main entrance of the V&A museum for the London Design Festival 2011. The challenge for us as lighting designer was to create an iconographic identity for the entrance at night with little or no budget. Minimalist in means, yet grand in its result, our solution allowed the light to pass through the arch to create an intricate set of patterns on the facade, beautifully unifying the composition for a powerful identity at night and a new experience for the visitor.
Photo Credits: ©Dennis Gilbert ©London Design Festival, Tom Lorton
AWARDS
Judges’ Special Award, The Wood Awards (2012)
Spatial Design/Installations, D&AD Awards (2012)
London, UK
Client: London Design Festival
Team: Alex Chinneck, OSRAM
"A Bullet for a Shooting Star" was unveiled as the headline installation for London Design Festival 2015. Set in the Greenwich peninsula amongst other architectural landmarks, the upturned electrical pylon creates a crisp silhouette against the sky. Alex Chinneck's proposal in the form of an inverted electric pylon drew us to themes like celestial bodies, the works of Nicola Tesla, lighting and electricity, all of which inspired our design concepts for illumination of the sculpture. Our challenge for the lighting design was to enhance the sculpture's legibility and presence at night. A 10 minute progressive sequence reveals the sober lines of the sculpture's silhouette by gradually filling the pylon with white light before it plumes with deep oranges and fades into the night sky. The colour is reminiscent of molten steel which simultaneously recalls how the sculpture was forged as well as a nod to the site's industrial history.
Photo Credits: ©Osram
Anchorage, Alaska
Team: BALMOND / STUDIO
Designed by Balmond/Studio for the Alaska Crime Lab, SNOW WORDS is a light art installation - an abstracted time piece derived from prime number and code sequences. SEAM was appointed to provide lighting design and technical services for the project. The sculpture is comprised of 24 poles with 206 light units. The light units are individually addressed with core facing and perimetral facing light sources separately controlled to allow for movement of light within the sculpture itself. The light sculpture is also calibrated to its location and context to respond to extreme changes and variations of light throughout the year.
Recognised by the 2013 Public Art Network Year in Review as one of the most compelling and outstanding works across the United States.
Photo Credits: ©Devki RajGuru
Damascus, Syria
Client: Majid Al Futtaim
Team: ACME, AKT, ZEF, Conser, Davis Langdon, Sectorlight
Facades ornately adorned with Arabesque patterns of stonework are unified under a bespoke roof canopy structure. SEAM joined a design team lead by ACME to provide lighting design services for this unique visitor's gallery and showroom for the Khams Shamat Master Development located outside of Damascus, Syria. The structure consists of 4 pavilions arranged around individual feature courtyards celebrating the 5 'beauty marks' – the ancient cities of Greater Syria : Aleppo, Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem and Tiberias. These pavillions are comprised of exhibition galleries, administrative offices, small theatre/auditorium, executive offices and lounge spaces. SEAM's lighting designs incorporated all public interior and exterior areas, including feature facade lighting.
Images: ©SEAM Design @Acme
New York, New York
Team: Jeffrey McKean Architects/Swanke Hayden Connell Architects
Fulfilling the aspirations of creating a prestigious new address in Manhattan, the Taiwanese Consulate is a renovated corporate office building and home to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices. SEAM provided lighting design services for public areas and typical office floor lighting, from concept through construction. A defining architectural statement is created in the grand double height atrium where custom feature wall provides a flexible exhibit display for curating cultural artifacts. Additionally, the lighting system designed for the atrium is multi-modal allowing the atrium to double as a performance space for special events that opens into art galleries at ground level and Mezzanine level. Theatrical performance lighting and architectural lighting are integrated into the lower ground floor auditorium including illuminated “skylights” that shine through the atrium floor above. A world class work environment and private offices are created on the upper levels.
Images: Jeffrey McKean Architects
Beirut, Lebanon
Client: Majid A l Futtaim
Team: SKP, ACME, Design Inc, Barbanel, Francis Landscapes
Beirut City Centre, a development by Majid Al Futtaim, is a large $300M retail complex, that comprises of over 60,000m² of retail space housing 200 stores located in Beirut's Hazmieh district. SEAM as specialist lighting designer, joined an international design team led by Samir Khairallah Partnership of Beirut, including London-based ACME for the feature roof light design, and DesignInc for the food and beverage outlets. Beirut City Centre is due to complete in 2013 delivering a world class standard, redefining shopping and leisure experience in Lebanon.
Images: ©Acme
St Tropez, France
Team: BALMOND / STUDIO, ARUP
The JBR Light Sculpture is a bespoke architectural feature ceiling installation by Balmond/ Studio for a hotel in St. Tropez. The lighting design for the sculpture involves simulation and interaction between light and modules comprised of dichroic panels to create various atmospheres, settings and light sequences. Through this project, SEAM is exploring movement and resultant colour of light through a floating modulated ceiling using variables of angle position and proximity of light sources to panel with the use of DMX controls for sequencing and dimming for input/output interactivity. Other lighting design includes standard architectural lighting and controls for multiple functions for the room as an event space.
Images: ©SEAM Design
Hangzhou, China
Team:Zaha Hadid Architects, Buro Happold, Davis Langdon
Part of the invited team for a limited international design competition, SEAM worked together with Zaha Hadid Architects providing technical and creative lighting design for a new pedestrian bridge in the Golden Silver Lake Development in Hangzhou, China. SEAM joined the ZHA led team which included Buro Happold and Davis Langdon to help generate the feature lighting design. The lighting scheme consisted of fully integrated bridge lighting that utilises warm and cool colour temperatures to enhance the material palette - warm toned finishes along the bridge deck and cool reflections on the water - without the use of overhead lighting poles. An interactive lighting system creates a fluid interaction between nature and people, interacting with pedestrian movement and other elemental inputs such as wind, water and time, to achieve a complex featured output of light movement and sequencing over the course of the night.
Images: ©Zaha Hadid Architects
Brackenell, UK
Client: Stanhope plc
Team: Nick Hancock Studio
Ocean House Reception is located in a mixed use retail-commercial development located in Bracknell. The project consists of a refurbishment of all reception areas from the previous design completed in the 1980's. SEAM provided lighting design services for the updated interior fit out with clean materials and fresh lighting design.
Photo Credits: Harry Triggs
