Zumtobel designs dynamic LED façade for huge Korean shopping mall
Wilfried Kramb, ag Licht’s project manager on the Cheonan project said, “Our objective in setting the façade center stage was to illuminate this huge surface area in a manner that ensures that the overall impression of the building at night is in keeping with the impression it makes during the day.
The building was designed to utilize an indirect lighting method to let natural light penetrate the mall’s interior during the day, reducing the amount of artificial light required (a video of the interior of the Galleria Centercity, Cheonan can be viewed on YouTube).
An indirect lighting effect
The building’s materials and construction helped achieve specific lighting effects. The architects used vertical aluminum panels together with custom-built triangular glass sections to fabricate both inner and outer façade layers.
The RGB spotlights, which are built into the glass sections, project light onto the inner (aluminum) façade, where it is reflected back onto the building’s outer façade.Three types of pixels were used to achieve optimal visual results: high-resolution 400x400-mm pixels at the building corners, low-resolution 800x800-mm pixels on straight surfaces and medium-resolution pixels in between.
In the installation, more than 22,000 LED spotlight luminaires are individually controlled by a DMX controller. Zumtobel developed a custom solution for the façade, using 3.6W RGB LED spotlight luminaires with IP65 rating (12,399 units) together with 1.2W white LED spotlight luminaires (10,000 units).
Next-generation design
“Shaping the shopping mall as a living space required, externally as well as internally, a unique, creative design force capable of attracting visitors, inviting them to linger and motivating them to return,” added van Berkel.