Ferry passengers greeted with light
The Auckland Ferry Building in Auckland, New Zealand, is the hub of the city's ferry system and sees 13,000 passengers pass through its ferry terminal every day. The much-admired Ferry Building has a striking daytime presence because of its Edwardian Baroque architectural style and location on Waitemata Harbor, Auckland's main anchorage and port area. But by night only the building's lower level was illuminated, and unsightly light spillover from taller adjacent buildings muddled its façade.
City officials decided to solve these issues by highlighting the building's classical architecture with an attractive system of white LED lights. Nighttime renderings of the proposed lighting convinced all parties that an LED lighting system from Color Kinetics would be the best replacement for the building's metal halide fittings.
As the building is protected by both the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and Auckland Council, designers took considerable care when installing new mounting brackets and concealed cabling for the lighting system. iW Blast Powercore (now specified with Blast IntelliHue) and iW Graze Powercore (now specificed with Graze IntelliHue) luminaires were chosen for their efficiency and cost-effectiveness and are controlled with an iPlayer 3 controller.
Signify provided all aspects of the LED lighting project, including services such as design consultation, management of the installation with local contractors, programming, commissioning and overall project management. The new lighting bolsters the building's aesthetic value and is significantly more energy efficient than its previous system. The highly focused light distribution from the new lighting also ensures minimal light spillover.
"The entire project has been completely seamless, from the supply of the light fittings to the ultimate performance of the lights," said Architect Peter Reed of Salmond Reed Architects. "The design and position have been perfect and has complemented our designs effortlessly. We knew it would look great. The renderings convinced us, and the result is fantastic."
