Spesso roof top restaurant, in the centre of Stockholm, has quickly become appreciated for its relaxed and international atmosphere. Spotlights and cylindrical pendants create distinct pools of light on the tables whilst leaving guests in comfortably muted light, enjoying the view as a backdrop.
We were approached initially in the late spring of 2020 to light a sculpture above the bar in this roof top restaurant, still under construction.
The brief was to light a 7 x 3,5 m suspended sculpture above the bar, without any lightspill on the ceiling or down onto the bar. We were only to use pre installed tracks, set in a grid. Due to shipping problems during the pandemic, the design of the sculpture suddenly changed from acrylic to metal, only 6 weeks before opening. We had to rethink the whole design. We tested and found that a soft non focussed light would give the best effect. We settled for using off-the-shelf top sealed light bulbs on textile cords, which we sealed upwards with bespoke black laquered top-plates. The pendants would be powered by adapters from the three-phase tracks and hooked to the ceiling in position. We needed around 25 lights. It worked and the metallic ribbon shines in a magical way.
Only a few weeks before the opening we were asked to complete the lighting for the rest of the whole restaurant as well. The interior designers didn´t want any ambient light, only light on to the tables and some focal points. Again only using the pre installed tracks on the ceiling. The light levels should be kept low and complement the grey washed wood, leather and mauve colours.
The challenge was to avoid glare on the floor-to-ceiling windows, which would be disturbing and distract from the view. The distance from the tracks to some of the tables was too big and angling of the spotlights too sharply would cause glare visually. We decided to add narrow cylindrical pendants, connected to the tracks and positioned by ceiling hooks right above tables.
We started hunting for spotlights with narrow beam angles and deep recessed light sources, dimmable and 2700K – deliverable in just a week! After numerous dead ends we managed to find a manufacturer who was able to obtain necessary parts from Finland and assemble all the spotlights over a weekend and deliver just in time.
The display shelves for the bottles in the bar was another point of focus. The display piece was custom made of aluminium tubes and glass shelves. We opted for linear LED-strips on the underside of each shelf, with cabling hidden in the structural tubes. The shelf lighting lets the colourful bottles sparkle like jewels. The result of the lighting scheme is that the food and drinks play centre part together with the view outside.
