Creative use of lighting in an industrial environment

A close working relationship between architect and electrical engineer has resulted in an efficient and innovative lighting solution for a cold storage facility in Cape Town.

The Southern African Fruit Terminals (SAFT) Group of companies was established in 1999 as a cold storage solution for fruit and other perishable industries. Making its debut in Cape Town, SAFT soon spread its wings offering its services in other parts of the country. “SAFT Atlantic in the Western Cape is SAFT’s flagship building and one of the first buildings at Atlantic Hills Business Park,“ says architect Joe de Villiers of Joe de Villiers Architects. “It is in a prominent position in the business park, so the building needed to make a good impression.”

While the intricacies of the cold store/warehouse were the responsibility of the team of engineers and other consultants, Joe de Villiers Architects’ brief was to ensure that the overall project was aesthetically pleasing within the constraints of an industrial building type, and a limited budget. As such, Joe de Villiers Architects was responsible for the design of the office building, staff facilities and gatehouse.

“The lighting throughout the facility is entirely LED, as not only is it the most efficient in terms of light output and lifespan, but is also quite easily adapted to function in extreme environments,” notes Dominic Bright, of Converge Consulting, the electrical engineers on the project. “Being a cold store, specialised light fittings are required to provide necessary lighting levels within the facility and perform not only in sub-zero temperature conditions, but also in areas of very high humidity.” All the lighting throughout the facility is controlled via occupancy sensors which control the output of the fittings by dimming down or ramping up to full output based on detection of people in the vicinity. This reduces the overall lighting consumption by up to 70%. As the facility operates 24/7, the external yard lighting plays an important part of the functionality of the facility, and the external lighting design had to allow for night-time use without lighting spill or glare.

Each different area’s requirement informed the specification of the lighting. By analysing the primary design parameters of light levels (lux), light fitting mounting heights, equipment and racking layouts, environment (operating temperature and humidity) and surface reflectance (walls, floor and ceiling), Converge Consulting developed a lighting schedule of fittings with different light outputs, beam angles and enclosures to suit. “By designing according to fixed layouts we were able to ensure that the necessary lux levels were always achieved by changing the output and beam angles of the light fittings to direct the light as required,” says Bright.

In the cold storage areas a combination of linear LED high bays (with different beam angles) and low temperature, waterproof LED luminaires was installed. The offices were lit using recessed LED panels in the suspended ceilings with 6 W and 14 W LED downlights in bulkheads and skimmed ceilings. Decorative suspended LED strip lighting at different angles was installed at reception and in the boardroom. The external yard lighting was also important and floodlights with cut-off diffusers were installed to limit glare and lighting spill from the facility.

Play of light on the façade

On the eye-catching façade lighting, which was achieved through a combination of waterproof linear LED fittings with narrow beam angles to wash the façade and wide beam angles to backlight other sections, de Villiers notes there was no specific call for such a feature. “But, we came up with the concept for the lighting as a means to create a striking effect without adding too much cost using backlit polycarbonate sheeting. Internally, we specified hanging LED lights arranged at different angles, which repeat the angles used in the stepped sheeting (cladding) on the façade. Up-down wall lights on the exterior also highlight the splashes of yellow paint, a nod to SAFT’s logo and corporate identity,” he says.

The play of light is a highlight of the structure – be it sunlight during the day or the LED lighting at night – the fact that the sheeting is articulated by means of stepped sheeting in two different colours (light grey and dark grey) means that the sunlight plays on the façade during the day and is up lit at night with powerful LED strip lighting washes to accentuate the lighter grey recessed sheeting. Elsewhere, a canopy over the row of loading bays with a polycarbonate fascia along the front, is also backlit.

“The challenge with lighting, and particularly façade lighting, is to achieve the correct lux levels to enhance the features of a building, and not to over-light,” says Bright. “Any structure can be lit up, the important role we have as designers is to ensure that we do this either by using light as the feature (such as lines of light on the façade) or by highlighting certain elements of a building. At SAFT it was important to conceal the façade lighting and rather to highlight the articulation of the façade.” De Villiers notes that the detailing of the stepped sheeting and the backlit polycarbonate cladding was a bit tricky, as was sourcing LED strip lights that would be strong enough to wash up the façade, which is, in some places, up to 14 m high). “We had great help from the electrical engineers in this regard and mock-ups were installed on site at an early stage for our approval. The structural engineers were very accommodating and assisted with the detailing of different brackets to mount the stepped sheeting,” he says.

The importance of lighting

“Lighting is the most important design tool we used to elevate the building from ‘just another industrial building’ to something noteworthy,” says de Villiers. “Apart from the important functional requirements of lighting, we think the creative use of lighting is often neglected in industrial environments. Many industrial developments are in prominent locations along our highways, and we think it is important for these not to be neglected.” Internally, as the facility makes use of high racking elements, it was extremely important to ensure that the cold store lighting had as little glare as possible so the forklift operators can look up at the racks without their vision being affected. “We are glad to say that our vision has become a reality,” says de Villiers in conclusion. “The façade lighting is drawing a lot of attention and the building is a talking point in the industry in Cape Town; something that was achieved with minimal additional cost.”

PROJECT TEAM

Architect: Joe de Villiers Architects

Electrical Engineers: Converge Consulting

Lighting/Electrical Contractor: DC Electrical

Structural/Mechanical engineers: MH&A Engineers

Landscape Architects: CNDV Landscape Architects

Cladding contractor: Cladco

Main contractor: Isipani

Developer: Abland

Client: Southern African Fruit Terminals (PTY) Ltd

QS: Du Toit/Pienaar