Selfridges
Selfridges, London’s prestigious retail destination, needed a flexible lighting solution that could produce a broad spectrum of colours and effects to support the department store’s key events and projects, specifically Project Ocean – a campaign encouraging people to eat different varieties of fish to avoid overfishing. It also required sustainable lighting that would deliver energy savings, meanwhile enhancing the retail experience for shoppers.
To illuminate the building’s facades, Architainment Lighting supplied Philips Color Kinetics fittings including the ColorReach Powercore, ColorBlast Powercore and ColorGraze Powercore, all of which combine rich, saturated colour and customised effects with simplified installation and maintenance. The ColorBlast PowerCore, suitable for both interior and exterior architectural lighting, was used for its versatile positioning and wide range of capabilities including wall washing, grazing, floodlighting and spot lighting. Furthermore, the ColorGraze Powercore, a linear, colour-changing LED surface light was used for its compact and low profile design with flexible mounting options that allows for discreet placement. To manage all the lighting supplied, Architainment Lighting supplied a Pharos LPC X to control the ocean-like ripple, fading and static display effects.
The LED technologies supplied emphasise the historical architectural features of Selfridges, which is also a listed building, and although the initial brief was to light only the Oxford Street facade, the decision was later made to extend the scheme to both Duke Street and Orchard Street to wrap the lighting around the building so that it would be visible from all approaches. In addition to supplying the technology, Architainment Lighting showed utmost flexibility by providing technical expertise and support late into the night, alongside Lateral Concepts who carried out the installation after hours.
As part of Estée Lauder’s 2011 Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, Selfridges was among many iconic buildings worldwide illuminated bright pink. Fronted by model and fashion designer, Liz Hurley, the campaign also saw landmarks including the air traffic control tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and the Yokohama Marine Tower in Japan.