LUMINO lights up Culture Mile
LUMINO has brightened the streets of London as part of a prestigious art project to light the area of the city known as the Culture Mile. With a number of plinths to illuminate as part of the installations, lighting designers for the project, MBLD, approached LUMINO to supply the luminaires, which are a crucial part of the structures.
The brief was to use V20S Optic IP67 running on battery power, lasting 1 week with 5-hour cycles per day before needing to be recharged. LUMINO subsequently designed, procured and assembled a battery system and timer using the V20S which would fulfil these needs. The LUMINO team also assisted on-site with commissioning the lighting.
The project has seen London’s Culture Mile, which stretches from Farringdon to Moorgate, become the home of an inspiration structural installation. Visitors are now guided through the streets by a quote from Virginia Woolf’s novel Jacob’s Room “What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?”.
The installation, ‘Around the Corner’ is the creation of Karsten Huneck and Bernd Truempler of KHBT architects. It was selected as the winning design in the City of London’s Corporation Culture Mile competition. The aim of the contest was to improve wayfinding, walkability and pedestrian experience along the North-South route between the Barbican and Millennium Bridge.
Jago Wickers, Design Director at LUMINO, said: “We were delighted to be asked to provide a bespoke LUMINO lighting solution for these clever and imaginative ‘word’ artworks created by KHBT. Our lighting will hopefully brighten up the winter evenings for everyone who sees them and follows the Culture Mile on a voyage of discovery to find all twelve word sculptures.
“Working with Aniket Gore of MBLD we created a battery powered, programmable, custom installation based on our GRAZE lensed V20S with water-resistant IP67 rating. The programmed battery setup is a new concept for us and we achieved over 24hrs of illumination which is impressive for such a bright profile throwing out 1800 lumens per metre.
“Aniket’s choice to use our graze-lensed profile works exceptionally well to catch the reflected light on the sculptural forms and golden curves of Karsten and Bernd’s vibrant artworks, while the transverse louvre option restricts prevents distracting glare, leaving the sculpture as the centre of attention.”
Around the Corner will start at the Millennium Bridge, with each word of the last sentence located at points along the walk. They will act as wayfinding tool, as well as a sculptural attractor offering information about Culture Mile and the places where it is located.
Speaking of the project, Karsten Huneck said: “We are delighted to be able to create “Around the Corner”, an emotional and imaginative work that is aiming to make people think and discover Culture Mile.
“What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?” a sentence from Virginia Woolf’s “Jacobs Room” navigates the visitor along the route in order to explore the cultural richness of the City. Each word, expressed with a precious golden finish, will be placed at crucial locations in order to create the route.”
Build and Be Scene (Construction); Arup (structural and engineering) and Cut and Construct (cutting) were also part of the project team.
As part of the competition, the City Corporation invited proposals from architects, designers and artists with an interest in cultural placemaking in London and its built environment. The brief asked for designs that used visual clues and public realm infrastructure to animate and transform the route during both the day and night.
