“It’s just one…” As individuals, it’s just one step, one smile, one action; we aren’t big enough to create change alone, so why bother? Yet, amidst this narcissistic period of human history, where everything we do is captured and shared digitally en masse, we should be capitalizing on our social networks to the advantage of our society –– we should be celebrating the impact that “just one” person or “just one” action can make when we collective our individual actions. When Wilson Associates Dubai was presented with a design commission opportunity –– asked by Downtown Design to conceptualize the 2019 fair’s bar area and social spaces –– they chose to promote this “Just One” idea by bringing the local design community together to create something bigger than themselves. With the goal of creating a vision for a stronger and more unified future, Wilson Associates and lighting design firm Studio Mark sought to celebrate “it’s just my…..one step” through an artful lighting collaboration.
Studio Mark embraced the opportunity to bridge the gap within Dubai’s lighting design community and to lead the way in encouraging a more collaborative culture. For the first time in local history, Studio Mark brought together 15 competing suppliers, manufacturers, control and digital media experts to create this interactive, cutting-edge and immersive installation at Wilson Associates bar space for Downtown Design. The resulting, multi-layered lighting approach visually brings together core influences of tolerance, coexistence and diversity through a careful balance of task, ambient, sparkle and invisible lighting systems employed throughout the bar area.
The entry to Wilson Associates’ bar served not only as an oasis from the energy of the Downtown Design Fair by day, but transformed into a beckoning reprieve in the evenings, with a strategic scheme that provided warm, ambient lighting to set an intimate mood for each coming visitor. Guests were immediately greeted with the spectacular, main lighting installation: a custom chandelier composed of Artemide Discovery Panels, hung between Amber- and Red Rosco-coloured filters and stretched onto large, custom frames. The panels were programmed to track the RGBW spectrum to suit the time of day, while creating multidimensional illusions that ensured no two patrons had the same experience. Invisible microtrack heads disappear into the ceiling, providing shafts of light to anchor the installation and highlight the colourful patterning of the Bolon floor and furniture below.
In addition to the main installation, Wilson Associates commissioned a custom-designed iteration of Lasvit’s signature chandelier, the “De-Lux-Ity,” to hang over the dining table as an additional point of visual intrigue. To complement Lasvit’s radiant work of art, linear light boxes with built-in Traxon Media Tubes shift to match the hues of the chandelier’s glass pieces. Integrated RGBW grazers from Traxon were built into both the indoor and outdoor back bars to provide added illumination, each programmed to begin shifting colours at exactly Happy Hour o’clock –– providing guests a subtle clue that the space was evolving into the evening and would soon become the “Just One” place to be.
