The Italian Institute of Culture of Montevideo is located in the centre of the city, in a building constructed in 1912 and later enlarged. It is the cultural office of the Italian embassy in Montevideo and it hosts different activities that promote the diffusion of Italian culture abroad.
The fundamental premise of the lighting project is to enhance the façade of the building, taking into account its architectural characteristics and also its use for cultural purposes. The design of the proposal also contemplates an efficient lighting system that does not damage the masonry of the façade and does not generate light pollution or glare for pedestrians.
For the ground floor and first floor, grazing lighting is proposed to highlight the elements that make up the façade. This is achieved employing double emission linear luminaires which are specifically designed to be visually integrated and not interfere with the architecture. One is located above the main entrance and the other is attached to the grilles of the ground floor windows, which is fixed with hardware that is screwed to allow its dismantling without affecting the masonry. The luminaire consists of a double-emission LED fixture (top and bottom) to cover the lighting of the Ground Floor and First Floor sector from the same element. Shielding is designed so that the light source is hidden and only the effect is perceived. The colour temperature selected is 3000 K as it is suitable in terms of the colour of the façade cladding and is also an appropriate shade for the evening hours from the point of view of light pollution and visual comfort.
For the lighting of the first floor, a different concept is proposed in order to differentiate this sector, which was constructed after the main building. It is also the floor where most of the classrooms are located, which is why the proposal also has a more playful character. Coloured lighting is designed, in different shades of blue as the main configuration, and which also has some variants to be used on different occasions. For this purpose, 9 RGB luminaires are used, which are located in the window openings on the second floor.
All the luminaires are connected to an automatic switch-on clock system. The luminaires on the ground floor and first floor are also dimmable.
The proposal achieves the objective of highlighting the façade with subtlety, enhancing the value of the building but taking into account respect for the surroundings and the environment of the area.
