events or highlighted in the colours of an anchor
tenant. “We tested a few mock-ups and samples,”
explains Pillay, “and it became evident in the end
that the best solution was to go for a fully animated,
fully controllable system that has the flexibility and
ability to light up major events in future”.
A step in the slab on each floor allowed Giantlight
to install a channel that holds three rows of RGB
LED strip lighting, directed to wash onto the blinds,
which act as the reflective surface and illuminate
the glazing. The glazing is contoured as part of the
fabrication process causing the light to ‘flow’ over
the span of the glazed façade and creating a most
impressive lighting effect.
In total, 2 400 m of LED strip was used for the
installation. Giantlight was closely involved in the
layout of the power supplies and the conduit work.
For the animation to work effectively and to ensure
that the various ‘boxes’ on the façade can be illumi-
nated separately, there are power supplies at set
intervals. “The wiring in a colour changing installa-
tion is all-important and it is this,” says Piek, “that
takes the time. If the wiring is not done correctly,
it can take days to find the problem and DMX is
unforgiving if the installation is not perfect”.
Giantlight manufactured the Ghostlight Wash
used in the installation and tested the entire set-up
in-house to minimise glitches on site. “Raymond
Luck, who was responsible for the wiring, and
Michael Bredenkamp, responsible for the program-
ming, were very professional,” says Piek. “They
made a difficult and complicated installation seem
incredibly simple”.
Pillay is delighted with the results and explains
that not only is the lighting effective and exactly
what the team hoped for, but the installation aver-
ages around 56 kW, which is covered, theoretically,
by the building’s installed solar panel. “Although
obviously spread into the building’s reticulation,
because it forms part of the landlord’s installation,
we can justifiably say that we are supporting the
façade lighting with the additional 55 kW we get
from the solar panel,” he concludes.
RGB
RGB
RGB
Diffuser
Outer glass panel
Channel
± 1 m
Schematic of the channel box.
Schematic of the placement of the LEDs to illuminate the glazing.
Blinds
Inner glass panel
7
LiD
08-09/14
