Atrium of Light, Germany

In the new corporate headquarters of a global market leader in decor printing, inspiring interior design trends are showcased. The lighting design is based on the concept of bringing the atrium building to life in terms of its spatial depth and material diversity, and showcasing the surface specialist’s keen sense of design through precisely choreographed lighting. It orchestrates the harmonious interplay of colours and structures of the company’s own decors, which characterise furniture, floors, and interiors worldwide.

The heart of the new building is an atrium that combines a reception area, event hall, and central access to all four floors—here, daylight and artificial light merge to create a warm, inviting atmosphere. Large-scale glazing floods the room with natural light, while an intelligent lighting system adds artificial light as needed, ensuring consistent light quality – from the early hours of the morning to late-night concerts.

The guiding principle behind the lighting design was to create an emotional experience of the colours, structures, and materials of the company’s own decors through a finely differentiated lighting concept. This dramaturgy is particularly noticeable in the emotional staging of the vertically arranged wood decor slats. These aluminium bodies, profiled for fire protection reasons and featuring high-quality decor, form the design highlight of the atrium. The visible LED lighting transforms the deceptively real wood structure into a warm, inviting light installation.

The planning process required a completely new approach: each LED was positioned individually and each lens tested until the warm, upward-directed light illuminated the surface. Instead of relying on technical CRI values, extensive sample setups on site led to the optimal solution. Only the visual inspection of all components enabled the perfect interplay of light colour, colour rendering, and surface effect.

Further highlights include individually developed lighting solutions in the special areas. The café bar is characterised by a sculptural luminaire made of glass cubes, whose fine coordination of light color with the materials of the foyer was crucial. Each glass cube was given an additional colour coating, which was optimised on site.

The concert stage lighting represents another innovation. Pre-programmed lighting scenes transform the atrium into an atmospheric concert hall when the seven-meter-high partition between the foyer and the conference hall is opened. The lighting concept was developed in close consultation with the concertmaster and continuously optimised. Different lighting scenes create the appropriate mood for each occasion.

Another major challenge was the invisible integration of the technology while maintaining a high degree of design precision. Thanks to the close cooperation of all those involved, solutions were developed that are both functional and atmospheric.