“Light as a brush on the canvas of the architecture, always and forever”.
Sydney meets Tokyo bar, designing with layers of lighting.
This is one of these projects where the entire team becomes like a family, working together to push through.
The brief from the Client was to make sure the reception lobby, new bar area and restaurant would attract not only the guests of the Hotel but also occasional visitors.
The central lighting sculpture, made out of 250 lighting rods, of four different heigths, recreates a weave effect working also as way finiding: on the right the hotel reception, on the left the entry to the MEE SO bar, which wraps around a curve bar island with bench top and back wall lit to enhance the colour of the bottles and the drinks.
Challenges on this project were countless, starting from the main lighting sculpture piece, from the spec, to the design of the bi-directional weave of light, to the control system and grouping trying to reduce as much as possible the number of drivers, to make it fit within the on site constrainghts, to the installation method: groups of lights were installed onto panels and then fixed to the ceiling.
For the MEE SO bar, Tokyo meets the movie Shining, with the backlit bench top and backlit bar wall.
The use of colours, changing over the day from warm white to a combination of two different colours for each night brings that futuristic mood that makes this space quite unique in Sydney at night.
The restaurant, active more over breakfast and lunch has an approach that links to the Asian infusion with a twist on pastels colour and the lighting here is minimal to provide calm and that cozy feeling of sharing a table with someone you care.
The lighting for the lift lobby is also a wayfinding line that wraps around the lobby directing towards the second entry to the restaurant area.
Joinery design was a key element, with vertical lighting creating portals of light when stepping into the bar area.
The bathroom areas was designed with a particualr graphic and by changing the colour of the light we bring out a different design: based on the primary colours.
It was a fun ride to get the project from design to completion, almost 2 years. Thank you all and remember: “light as a brush on the canvas of the architecture, always and forever”.
