Working with Stanton Williams for Historic Royal Palaces, LAPD designed a lighting scheme for the Tower Environs at the Tower of London.
The brief was to design a scheme that would increase public safety without interfering with views of the iconic Tower.
The use of luminaire columns was completely out of the question. These would block views of the Tower itself. So, we developed a low level scheme to cast light across the new pedestrian promenade.
However, there were two key issues with this: firstly, glare.
To cast light across the promenade required considerable lumen output. Similarly to columns, bollards had the potential to obstruct views. Unshielded surface-mounted luminaires would create far too much glare, not to mention the potential trip hazard and risk of vandalism.
The solution here was the creation of niches within the granite benches. Luminaires then sat within these, secured behind deep, lockable louvres. This eliminated any trip hazard risk and protected the luminaires from vandalism, while projecting a low glare light across the promenade.
The second issue with the low level scheme was maintenance. The luminaires – at the time state-of-the-art compact fluorescent units with floodlight optics – required cleaning and re-lamping. However, it was important to place them back into their niches at the correct angles. If the luminaires sat at incorrect angles, it would compromise the lit environment.
Our solution combined our lighting design expertise with our product design skill and remains as unique as it is effective.
We designed a bespoke rolling frame that carried the luminaires at precisely the right angles. A hinged mount allowed the luminaires to be lowered to remove them from the low niches. Dual hydraulic lifts facilitated this and ensured that the frame would return to its correct angle when replaced in the niche.
With these rolling luminaires in place we had created a base layer of light, supplied by a uniquely robust system. Supplementary lighting was applied over this base layer.
Recessed downlights around the Tower Shop and the uplighting of the Tower information panel, as well as concealed lighting beneath raised granite planters. These elements of the design enhanced the promenade with good optical control and concealed mounting.
