KINGS CROSS SQUARE

Architectural lighting specialists StudioFractal and its partners, worked on a project to create the first new public square in London for 150 years, a functional space with heaps of character at King’s Cross Square, St Pancras.

Architectural lighting specialists StudioFractal and its partners, worked on a project to create the first new public square in London for 150 years, a functional space with heaps of character at King’s Cross Square, St Pancras.

StudioFractal worked with lighting designer acdc to realise its design for this historic piece of architecture, and we supplied MicroLouvre™ fabric to neutralise the glare from the in-ground luminaires.

The result has been a cleverly designed (and expertly hidden) LED lighting scheme that defines the furniture and structures in the square at night. In fact, a perfect blend of functional and accent lighting!

The light grazes up the ground floor of the building to reveal the brickwork. MicroLouvre™ is integrated into the luminaires and works to hide the light source whilst maintaining an integrated balance of glare control and high lumen transmission.

The varying lengths of the space and the nature of use of the historic building as a public space restricted the designers from using any external fittings to the lights, because of health and safety regulations. The internal application of the metal louvred fabric therefore allowed acdc’s BLADE LRi to perform and to meet the desired effect.

Chris Sutherland, Design Director at StudioFractal explained: ‘As well as highlighting the broad expanse of the façade, we wanted to gently pick out the small niches and cornices with the same lighting effect. The product we used needed to be available in a range of lengths to suit the variation in space available. Also, being grade listed meant that the luminaire fixings had to be located in existing mortar lines to ensure no damage was done to the façade.’

PROJECT:

KING’S CROSS SQUARE REGENERATION

LOCATION:

KINGS CROSS, LONDON

PRODUCT:

MICROLOUVRE™ FABRIC

INSTALL DATE:

2010

KEY FACTS

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• PUBLIC REALM PROJECT

• HISTORIC, GRADE LISTED BUILDING

• LED ACCENT LIGHTING SCHEME

• HIGHLY SUSTAINABLE

• LIGHTING DESIGN AWARD WINNER

RESULTS

• Neutralising glare

• Hidden light source

• High lumen transmission

• Fire and heat resistant