Location
Manchester, UK

Date
2021

Architect / Structural Engineer
Tonkin Liu / Arup

As the built expression of Manchester’s commitment to a low-carbon future, this sculptural tower stands atop a new district-energy centre that serves public institutions throughout the historic Civic Quarter. The single-surface envelope demonstrates Tonkin Liu’s experimental Shell Lace technology – developed with Arup and the Natural History Museum – precisely formed and extensively perforated for maximum structural and material efficiency. At street level, a bespoke white-ceramic tiled facade encloses the combined-heat-and-power (CHP) facility. A cinematic viewing window reveals the co-generation technology to passers-by.

Facade lights at the base of the tower illuminate the 40-metre structure while a series of spotlights within the structure wash the interior surface of the Shell Lace. The dappled light is amplified when it is mirrored on the surface of the reflective central flues.

With full DMX control integration, the system offers Manchester City Council showtime capability for civic events. On the everyday program, the Tower of Light and ground-floor gallery are synchronously programmed to provide an animated sequence of light that transitions from early evening to late night in a display of dynamic colour. Late at night, the tower transforms into a lantern that flickers gently.

Photography
David Valinsky

Shortlisted - FX Awards 2022 - Lighting Design Category

Location
London, UK

Status
Competition – 2016
Shortlisted with Honourable Mention

Client
Illuminated River Foundation

Competition organiser
Malcolm Reading Consultants

Architect
AL_A

Landscape
GROSS MAX

Artist
Asik Kapadia

Playwright
Simon Stephens

In a broad sense the lighting tells the story about the Thames as a time piece, reconnecting people to the Thames in a meaningful way. It aims to become a visual mnemonic for people’s intuitive understanding of the river's tidal behaviour and the mysterious effects of moonrise and moonset. The use of a simple dynamic lighting system allows for scenes that shift light to elegantly illuminate bridges together with the banks as a continuous and luminous thread. In this performance, each individually controlled luminaire has a purpose, with a role in the choreography and composition of light with great sensitivity to flight paths of migrating birds, bats, even airplanes and the river habitat.

The duration between sunset and twilight is when attention to the sky shifts below the horizon to the river. Illumination slowly wanders up the river, as if chasing the sun, yet stays for the night when dusk settles in. At high tide, the elevations of the river walls and bridge fronts are illuminated with warm white light thereby creating a continuous band along the river. During the shift to low tide, attention is brought to the arched spaces between the water and bridge undercarriages, as a cool white illumination moves towards the middle of the river, as if filling the void of the tide rolling out to sea.

As the tidal flow recedes, a series of luminaires along the river walls light the foreshores creating a new night-time public space, drawing more people to the water’s edge and reclaiming its beaches. Instrumental to both of these modes is the reflective surface of the water, which doubles the lighting effect and completes each scenario.

These are the bold stories – poetic, ephemeral, technological and meaningful – we wish to unfold through intricate and well-considered lighting as a symbol of London's unifying diversity and a beacon for progressive sustainability.

Awards
2016 Malcolm Reading Competition – Shortlisted, Honourable Mention

Location
Doha, Qatar

Status
Competition – 2012

Architect
ACME

Engineer
AKT II

As part of the expansive Lusail masterplan in Qatar, developers sought the creative vision of international design practices to create a pedestrian bridge connecting the Corniche Souq on the Qetaifan Islands. As one of the selected designers, ACME invited SEAM to join their competition team and develop a site-specific architectural lighting design that would create an iconic landmark along the waterfront.

The architecturally ingenious structure consists of two interlaced forms that merge to create a unique destination where shopping and leisure environments blend together generating a new synergy that evolves daily from early evening to late night.

The structure of the bridge is a series of concrete arches that work in conjunction with a system of intersecting concrete walls to create meandering pedestrian paths across the span of the bridge. A new modern souq shopping experience knits together spaces for pedestrian views with movement back into the waterfront context.

At the scale of the landscape, light is used as a cohesive visual element that unifies the form by articulating the repetition of arches as an expressive linear stroke. Internally, diffuse indirect lighting is used to create a lantern-like glow at night.

Images
ACME
SEAM Design

Location
Hangzhou, China

Status
Competition – 2012

Architect
Zaha Hadid Architects

Engineer
BuroHappold

As part of the invited team for a limited international design competition, Zaha Hadid Architects invited SEAM to collaborate on a new pedestrian bridge for the Golden Silver Lake Development in Hangzhou. Tasked with technical and feature lighting design, SEAM proposed architectural lighting as a central feature of the design proposal.

Leaping from the southern shore, the bridge bounds gracefully over the watercourse and only touches down once on a small island park before meeting the opposite shore. The lighting proposal expands the visual impact of the sinuous form by avoiding all lighting poles and utilising fully integrated lighting. Warm and cool colour temperatures amplify the experience by enhancing the materials - warm toned finishes on the inner surfaces invite pedestrians to journey over blue reflections on the water below, enhanced by façade lighting to the undercarriage of the bridge in cool light.

An interactive lighting system creates a fluid interaction between nature and people. Sensors capture dynamic motion and activities around the bridge – from pedestrian movements to environmental inputs such as wind, water flow and time – and repurpose this data into a complex feature lighting sequence over the course of the night.

Images
Zaha Hadid Architects