Right in the heart of the of the urban jungle of the Makati Central Business district in Manila and within the Balmori Suites (a luxury residential enclave) at the 7th Floor is a multi-events place that is surrounded by landscape that is actually a nursery for the entire Rockwell Powerplant Development.
Flanked on all sides by tall concrete buildings the 7th floor becomes an oasis among the glass and steel that surrounds it.
Despite the limited budget, the lighting design inside the tent was very flexible which accommodated the different activities and events expected and the lighting blurred the indoor and outdoor spaces extending the feel of the space as if in a large garden in the heart of the urban jungle that is Makati.
Surface Mounted tracks were installed on the trusses of the tent as unobtrusively as possible, making the tracks look like it was a natural extension of the trusses. A selection of dimmable track lights with varying beam spreads of narrow, medium and wide flood was specified. The beam spread, position and light intensity was carefully selected and installed depending on the occasion required at the tent delivering the much needed flexibility.
A most clever approach was employed by Rockwell Land Corp – the developer of Rockwell Powerplant in integrating the nursery for the entire “mixed used development” as part of the landscape for the “multi event” place. Since space is limited but plants are needed for the development, Rockwell Land Corp.
The Landscape Lighting used a majority of medium beam stake mounted lights that was carefully and strategically installed so as to minimize and hide glare as much as possible. The light source was carefully hidden as much as possible among the plants and each and every light fixture was fitted with a hood/snoot further reducing glare.
It was very important to blur the boundaries between the indoor and the outdoors with the use of lighting. To be able to enjoy the outdoors especially when one is surrounded by greens in the middle of the tall concrete buildings while being inside an airconditioned tent is such a luxury. And to enjoy a tropical garden in the middle of the Central Business District at night surrounded by the tall office and residential towers is quite an experience.
Solar Lights were also used to light the path walks providing for low ambient lighting.
