CapitaSpring is a mixed-use high-rise commercial building designed to be a new urban oasis in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District. To achieve this, the architect designed a façade with pockets of greenery at the base, core, and rooftop. The lighting concept of ‘focusing on the greeneries as the project’s unique feature’ was apt to emphasise the astonishing blend of architecture and greenery.
The challenge was how to make the green pockets on the façade stand out against the background interior lighting without making them obtrusive. It was difficult for the deep green trees (typical of tropical Southeast Asia) embedded in the façade to stand out at night if simply illuminated with usual white light. Therefore, pastel green coloured lighting mixed with 4000K white light is used to emphasise the green in a subtle way. This creates an illusion that the greens are livelier and fresher after dark with a lighting trick without making it too obvious.
Another concern that the authority had was if the night-time appearance of the podium levels and parking floors would affect the overall development. This was because the car park levels are surrounded by perforated façade panels which seems almost transparent at night. Hence the entire podium façade needs to appear evenly illuminated and not adversely affect the green pockets. The aperture ratio of the façade screen was precisely designed by BIG and downlights with excellent glare control were chosen for the parking lot. The fixtures along the façade are shielded on one side and are not visible from street level outside.
The lighting for the social spaces is illuminated using tree shadow projections and designed to connect seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. Tree shadows seen on the ceiling and floor gives a relaxing ambience with its play of light and shadow. Between the offices and service residences, are four connected levels of “organic softscape” called the Green Oasis which is visible from the exterior thus contributing to the overall façade lighting scheme.
Topping the building is the Sky Garden, the tallest publicly accessible observatory deck in Singapore, hence lighting is kept at a low level to not disturb the 360º panoramic city view. The pathway and landscape are rhythmically illuminated for a pleasurable walking experience. To keep the continuity from the car park level façade, there are pockets in the rooftop where trees are highlighted with the same green and 4000K white light. The greenery in the crown contributes to the beautification of the CBD skyline at night and can be seen from various vistas in the city.
CapitaSpring achieved one of the highest green building ratings in Singapore and lighting helped to contribute by reducing overall lighting power consumption while achieving the night-time appearance expected by the architect and client. Clearly defining areas and elements that should and should not be illuminated, helped reduced the number of lighting fixtures and their power consumption, but also emphasised the lighting concept by creating visual hierarchy at night with the lighting design.
