Benaki Museum Pavilion Architectural Lighting

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The signature entrance iron door holds exhibit cases and the concept was the lighting to be part of the structure. The lighting of the interior is also discreet and achieved with adjustable spots in recessed tracks between the ceiling wooden beams, so not to interfere with the general aesthetics, but to provide lighting adaptability. The aluminum foam shelves with their shimmering glow are given more emphasis with a dramatic effect of the cove lighting in cool white. The desired atmosphere was completed by tiny recessed track spot lights in the shelves, to highlight the artifacts

Dimensions & Packaging

Ceiling tracks: W 17mm x H 20mm x L custom.
Ceiling spots: Ø38mm, H 60mm.
Shelves' recessed track: W 17mm x H 20mm x L custom.
Curved especially for recessing into the round-shaped shelves.
Shelves' spots: Ø14mm, H 18mm.
Custom spherical magnetic spots: Ø35mm.

Tags

Light, Lighting design, Lighting fixtures, prototype, novelties, track system, magnetic spot, retail, exhibition

Production Technology

Lighting Manufacturers: Viabizzuno, Linea Light, Lights On.

Use of the minimum size of track systems and fixtures for general lighting of the space and artifacts lighting on the shelves, LEDstrips for cove lighting and custom made small-scale fixtures for magnetic mounting on the exhibition cases of the pivoting iron door.

Design Challenge

No product could provide lighting on the door with no obvious cables or infrastructure so everything was prototype. We designed small spherical LED fixtures for flexibility and style. We used magnets inside the bodies and a 3mm wide circuit was carved in each case on the metal structure of the door, powered with low voltage for electrifying the custom-made fixtures. The challenges were: to engrave this micro power-line on the metal structure, to insulate it, to supply it with electricity despite the pivotal movement of the door and the spherical spot light to be stable and well secured on.

Project Duration

The project lasted 4 months from concept to execution.

Operation Flow

The flexibility of the track system both on the shelves as well as between the ceiling wooden beams gives a lot of freedom to the operators of the shop to change the positions of the merchandise and often have a new look. Similar adaptability has the entrance door / display with the magnetic custom and patent pending spherical lights that can be moved freely on it.

Research

The lighting design respected the architect's concept throughout the process. The small size of the building along with the demanding parameters of a shop and exhibition venue, were the context for the lighting study. The study was based on technical research in order to make possible LIGHTING WITHOUT VISIBLE CABLES , for the spotlights of the iron entrance door. A group of people from electrical engineers to craftsmen worked on realizing the prototypes of the small scale lighting fixtures that we had designed as spheres in order to add the unique character of this project.

Inspiration

In a unique symbiosis of Culture and Leisure, the Benaki Museum inaugurated in June 2019 a new pavilion into the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel at the Athens Riviera. The building that functions as the Museum’s shop as well as an exhibition space, is an example of Greek modern architecture built in the 50s. The architectural concept was inspired by the binaries of the day and night cycle. The pivotal movement of the entrance gate mirrors this succession. The lighting concept was through simplicity and minimalism to highlight the architectural features as well as the concept. Night and day, light and shadow, visible and invisible, inside and outside were the path the lighting design concept, followed.

Image Credits

Image #1: Photographer George Sfakianakis, Benaki Museum Pavilion, 2019
Image #2: Photographer George Sfakianakis, Benaki Museum Pavilion, 2019
Image #3: Photographer George Sfakianakis, Benaki Museum Pavilion, 2019
Image #4: Photographer George Sfakianakis, Benaki Museum Pavilion, 2019
Image #5: Photographer George Sfakianakis, Benaki Museum Pavilion, 2019

Patents

Copyrights belong to Eleftheria Deko & Associates, 2019

Colors of Benaki Museum Pavilion Architectural Lighting

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