The lighting solution at Supercell’s new eight-story headquarters in Helsinki is a combination of timeless light architecture and changing dynamics. The light creates a calm atmosphere enlivened by fictional artistic light pieces; Atrium’s gently moving light and custom Hexagon lighting. The starting point for the design has been Supercell’s values and people’s wishes and needs.
The architectural lighting includes common and semi-public spaces and teams’ own spaces. The starting point for all the design has been the everyday life and ideology of Supercell’s practice. The success of all solutions is reflected in job satisfaction. The atmosphere of the facilities is moderate and soothing. Silence, peace, and concentration are characteristics of every atmosphere. The game is the core; the rest has to support it.
In the office spaces, light introduces the surfaces indirectly. The light is tuned small and dimmed; quiet. In the morning, it is cooler and more intense. As the evening darkens, the mood changes; the light is warm, and the illuminated pilasters on the exterior walls resemble a campfire, creating a warm atmosphere. In contrast, the adjoining windows open onto the city of Helsinki in the evening.
The lobby represents a unique wooden architecture that is spectacularly highlighted. During the day, the general light is brighter. When it gets dark outside, the general light dims, and the wooden architecture also emerges as part of the street scene. Highlighted game characters communicate about the company. The warm wooden architecture and cool concrete frame create a sensual combination.
The Atrium opens from the café floor, with a staircase leading to the office floors and eventually to the top restaurant and auditorium floor. The fictional expression of light in the Atrium is like the heart and soul of Supercell. Abstractionally changing tones and slow-motion give way to imagination. Unnoticed, light changes with the seasons and the day, always looking different.
On the top floor, a key element is uniquely designed Hexagon lighting, which represents the ideology of Supercell; cells. The moving and living light of the Hexagon reflects the birth, separation, beginning, and end of cells. It changes according to daylight and algorithmically indicates the amount and direction of the wind. Hexagon reflects Supercell’s ideology; people, life, the flow of life, games are born and die. In the cityscape, Hexagon communicates dynamism and communicates the existence of a gaming company without the need to advertise. The façade of the building is also lightly lit, but in the main part of the street view, transforming Hexagon can be seen from the windows on the top floor.
Supercell is an example of boldly questioning the traditions and trends of lighting architecture. Light is part of the architecture and before that, it is part of the values and lives of the users of the spaces. Light is not seen but experienced; it can change or be permanent, emphasizing, or fading. The lighting solution provides elements that the end-user can endlessly modify and develop.
Additional Design:
Design and custom lighting: Tunto lighting
Light and AV system design and implementation: Audico Systems
Main contractor: SRV Rakennus
Electrical engineer: Sweco Talotekniikka
Presentation tech-consultant: Akukon
