The OnCube office complex in Shanghai has been fitted with an eye-catching lighting system with the German GMP studio utilising original light effects from iGuzzini.
The office tower has a total height of 90m and its 20 floors rise into the air in the shape of two identical cubes. These are covered by a white aluminium grid of 4.2m sided squares that envelopes the building like a net curtain.
This graphic format is repeated inside the building where the double-glazed windows that form the building’s thermal ‘skin’ are dominated by the same squared grid. Framed by black aluminium profiles, these areas are also reflective, which further reinforces the illusion of the building being veiled by a curtain.
Halfway up the building, a break in the grid creates a kind of ‘waistband’ that at night is emphasised by a coloured blue light. The artificial lighting system designed by the Studio Illumine accentuates the three-dimensional nature of the building by positioning about 800 iGuzzini Trick luminaires all the way around it.
These blades of light are aimed at the frames of the squares that form the grid to underline their depth. The DALI protocol and control system allow the individual devices to be switched on separately so that light and shadow can be moved across the building’s surfaces.
Picture: Flatmind
