This building is situated in the stunning mountainous city of Chongqing in China, where winding staircases abound. The architect incorporated this distinctive characteristic of the landscape into the design of the building's podium. The unique podium is shaped like an arced staircase, mimicking the hilly topography of the city.
As lighting consultants, we wanted to further emphasize the concept of "mountain" as our primary visual treatment. We installed LED linear strips on each layer of the arc to increase the drama of this feature. Furthermore, the podium façade was covered with perforated aluminum panels which were then illuminated with backlit lights, resulting in a glowing effect emanating from within.
At the building tower, we wanted to celebrate Chongqing's "water". We installed spotlights on the façade with an arc pattern to give the effect of "water droplets". These water-drop lights are programmed to create movements like running water or changes in tempo. We customized each spotlight's gobo to make the drops appear more realistic. The overall lighting color temperature set at 3,000K unified the look on the entire building façade and accentuated the unique architectural features in a harmonious manner.
Another highlight of this project is budget management. Through our design, we managed to reduce the cost of the project by half as the developer had anticipated. Our design demonstrated that with the right lighting consultant, not only can an excellent design be achieved, but also efficiencies in cost can be made.