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• The renewed SOKOS HOTEL ILVES, Finland • |
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The renewed Sokos Hotel Ilves: EUROPEAN ELEGANCE IN DOWNTOWN TAMPERE A member of the Finnish Sokos Hotel chain, Sokos Hotel Ilves has implemented a large-scale façade lighting installation, which reinvents the look of the hotel and downtown Tampere. The lighting changes according to the season and can be adjusted to reflect festivals and local events as well. The new look of the hotel provides the city with the air of a major world metropol. Modern technology allows the building to appear in a casual or festive array, always in tune with the season or in harmony with festivals and the themes of various local events. The hotel now serves as an improved landmark for those approaching the city. A New Look with Modern Elements “Hotel Ilves is a unique example of a building where the lighting acts as an elegant ornament, emphasising the architectural design and supporting the commercial values and targets”, says lighting designer Roope Siiroinen, MA, ELDA. A satisfied Hotel Manager Lorentz Salo stresses that the lighting also aims to support the business: “The volume of our business increases as people gather in the restaurants to enjoy the evening. It is a very positive feature to have the hotel façade come to life at dusk.” Both men emphasise that the lighting is designed not to dazzle the residents of nearby buildings or the hotel. “The starting point in the lighting design was the fact that Hotel Ilves is a prominent building in the cityscape. However, its surface is black and does not reflect light, and on the basis of our experiences with floodlights, we came to the conclusion that the lighting method needed to be changed,” Salo recalls. The 'Feel' of the Building on Display After examining numerous alternatives and illustrations, the project team decided to put the building more on display, bringing it to life and providing it with the touch of a dynamic, modern hotel. Unique lighting was chosen for the hotel, comprising a hundred LED fittings. The everyday look is subdued and dignified, perfect for the imposing downtown cityscape by the rapids. Meanwhile, the changing and moving lighting creates special effects, revelations, and colour, according to the specific 'feel' desired or the festival taking place. There are a number of different lighting ideas: the seasons, New Year’s, Finland’s independence day, various public events and customer events, etc. The building acts as a piece of lighting art and a messenger in the cityscape that people will soon learn to interpret. Buildings as Marketing Channels “In construction, little attention has traditionally been paid to the dark season, regardless of the purpose of the building. Night-time has been regarded more as a problem. Light fittings are purchased with the sole purpose of increasing lightness. It is a relatively little-known fact that darkness is also a competitive asset for commercial buildings,” Siiroinen says, enthusiastically. “How to add outward visibility, what kind of an image to create amidst the dark… these questions are rarely considered. In the northern hemisphere, we have 4,000 hours of darkness a year with which to create a novel image: to crop out any unwanted elements and to emphasise the positive ones. It is important to make use of the evenings, when people actually move about in the city.” In the dark, an illuminated building conveys the image of an active company, and the effect is more powerful than in the daytime. The architecture of the dark is allowed to stand out. A Result of Co-operation City officials have participated in the design from the very beginning. Jalo Virkki, Tampere City Image Architect, supports the façade lighting project: “It is wonderful to realise how the downtown buildings participate in improving the urban image during the dark season, particularly as the new lighting systems are a result of minute design elements and high-quality construction.” Salo explains that in the project, the views of architects were also welcomed, to obtain an optimally functional, harmonious result. Siiroinen's company VALOA - architectural lighting design Ltd. (www.valoa.com) was responsible for the design and project management of the lighting project. The project team consisted of a head designer, a lighting designer, a technical designer, and a software designer. In addition, the project enjoyed a strong R&D contribution from a Finnish LED manufacturer. Modern Technology Siiroinen says that the lighting system is specifically designed for Hotel Ilves. Both the design and the implementation are 100% Finnish. The lighting is implemented with the RGB LED system and colourchanging floodlights with which the rhythm, movement, and colour of the light can be programmed. It is even possible to display animations. With more pixels, the system will also provide an opportunity to display moving light. VALOA Ltd. has invested in the future by developing a system based on animation art, so that the moving picture may act, for example, as the façade surface! The service life of LEDs is long, which means that burned-out lighting sources do not interrupt the overall impression. Maintenance is also easy, performed with a service cradle that is used for other maintenance tasks involving the wall and window surfaces as well. The system is programmed to use the DMX-512 protocol. Each lighting programme is separately designed and stored in the playback unit, through which the user can select the appropriate situation. Each programme is thus an investment for the near and distant future - not just a one-time event. The system has an integrated calendar that finds the local sunrise and sunset times via the Internet. It switches the system on and off on the basis of this information. The customer and the user switch the various programmes on and off as easily as one might operate, for example, a DVD player. The total project costs come to approximately EUR 200,000. The CV BOX: Roope Siiroinen, a Tampere-based lighting designer, has a six-year degree from the Department of Lighting and Sound Design at the Finnish Theatre Academy. The subject of his degree project was the aesthetics of exterior lighting and the factors involved. The artistic part of the project comprised designing the lighting at the housing fair area in Ylöjärvi. Siiroinen is the owner of Valoa - architectural lighting design Ltd., employing a total of six people. Lighting awards: · Kalle Kaihari Culture Award for lighting in Tampere, 2004 · European Lighting Trophy for lighting the Tammerkoski rapids · Lighting object of the year for 2003 - Tampere Central Square · Commendation in Luminord, a Nordic lighting competition · Lighting object of the year for 1999 - winner · Environmental structure of the year for 1997 Further information: Lorentz Salo, Hotel Manager - tel..+358 400 561 816 Roope Siiroinen, Lighting Designer, MA, ELDA from Valoa - architectural lighting design Oy, tel. +358 3 3444737, FAX: +358-3-3444709, e-mail: r.siiroinen@valoa.com, www.valoa.com Text: Anne Riekkola, Sisko Vuorenmaa, Roope Siiroinen
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