Professional Lighting & Production - Summer 2018 | Page 24

Light is also used to highlight the curvilinear stairway’s underside,
which flows naturally into a seating area tucked in below it. Across
from that is a service/sales desk – a lengthy wooden and white bar,
with the upper part lit substantially to display product and facilitate
interaction with staff and the lower shaded for a low-key look.
Cove illumination is provided by various LED luminaire brands
chosen specifically for the type of space illuminated: LED Linear in
the wall and stair coves, GVA lighting for ceiling coves, and Feelux
fixtures to create a halo effect for small display coves. Several kinds of
LED strips were deployed according to the need for a brighter or less
powerful fixture. Generally speaking, the more indirect the lighting,
the more output was required.
Great care was taken in choosing lamps and fixtures, Ho-Dion
notes. “For example, the lights that are mounted vertically in the
columns are a different fixture from those used in the walls and
staircase. For the columns, we used a straight LED product that’s less
powerful so you could look at it because it is directly visible. On the
walls and stairs we needed a flexible product to follow their geome-
try. We did lots of mockups with George and looked at every fixture
in person to ensure nothing was too bright. It’s easy to over light
things. We were trying to fine-tune this to get it just right.”
Overall, shadows are equally as important as light, given that light
– whether it’s ambient and coming from the coves, directly from
overhead, or from rectangular Samsung-branded lighting units placed
above some display tables – is focused on individual elements.
“We designed the interior space to be very soft, very textured,
and worked with Rebecca to design the down lighting to provide
even illumination with no shadows above 2 ft. off the floor,” Foussias
explains. “So, with no shadows at that height, you can move the
desks and tables anywhere if Samsung showcases new products or
a new line, for example.” That flexibility also allows various areas to
be reconfigured as necessary for special events, demonstrations, and
workshops.
Similar flexibility is provided by the store’s Lutron Quantum VUE
digital control system, which Ho-Dion describes as offering powerful
control functions while still being very user-friendly and allowing
for real-time fine-tuning of lighting levels for all of the elements in
the space. “Its capabilities were very well-suited for this project,” she
says. “All of the lighting can be controlled via a Samsung tablet, with
lights grouped into different zones so if they want to throw a party
– which they have – they can log in, bring one zone up and another
down, adjust it, save it, and then when the party’s finished, go back
to a regular daytime setting.”
On the ground floor, Samsung rolls out the welcome mat with
interactive VR zones and the aforementioned avocado-shaped desks
and counters to display the Galaxy line of tablets, phones, and acces-
sories, as well as the customer service desks.
24 | Summer 2018
Immediately upon entering you notice that the quality of light is
dramatically different from the mall itself, and how illumination is used
to accentuate the space’s soft angles and sculptural interior design.
“The entrance space and the stairway were highly coordinated
with George’s design. For the staircase, we used flexible LED Linear
fixtures that are encapsulated and bend rotationally and up on a spiral,”
Ho-Dion says, adding that, beyond the challenge of tucking fixtures in
so they aren’t a distraction, finding a lighting product that could rotate
as it goes up on essentially a compound curve wasn’t easy.
“If you stand in the middle of the stairs and look up through the
opening, you’ll see a star-like array of down lights that are pushing a
pool of light straight down towards an oval table in the middle of the
ground floor. We had to find specific LED down lights that were high
power. You may see them and say, ‘These are all just down lights,’ but
we were very specific – there are different areas and different ceiling
heights and so we needed different fixtures with more output for
higher ceilings, for example.”
All of the ceiling lights deployed were sourced from Gotham
Lighting of U.S.-based parent company Acuity Brands. Others used
in the project include Sistemalux track lighting, Axis linear fixtures
for the store’s offices and meeting rooms, and a futuristic FLOS light
fixture as a central decorative element – the only one of its kind in
the facility – in the main boardroom.
The second floor houses several distinct product areas – the TV
experience zone, the household appliance area, a demonstration
kitchen, and a service centre among them. Here, accented by LED
Linear products, the curved grey and green walls again reinforce
Foussias’ infinity theme.
The fabric on the walls also factored into the lighting design,
Ho-Dion notes. “That’s one piece we played with quite extensively
and investigated with George and his team. We brought in different
fixtures and mocked them up with the material that’s on the wall
and made sure there was smooth lighting and no flickering, especial-
ly when they’re being dimmed.”
Throughout the store, Samsung’s LED displays and televisions also
play a lead role, but are placed to complement the décor and design
rather than detract from it. In other words, there’s no massive TV
corner with dozens of various-sized screens playing the latest Disney
mega-hit competing for your attention.
“We designed the curved wall to be flat enough to accommodate