Centre of light
The Kempinski San Lawrenz Hotel on Gozo calls itself ‘your Mediterranean island hideaway’ and doesn't promise too much. On Malta's sister island, the five-star resort offers a luxurious place of peace and enjoyment in the middle of a 30,000 square metre garden. Guests are greeted in the lobby by a conical lighting composition that Lodes developed together with Living Design of Sweden AB and impresses at any time of day.
The square room was not particularly easy to manage: with doors and windows on each side, a strong centre was needed to create a relaxed atmosphere. At the same time, the charm of the traditional architecture, which was built using materials from the surrounding area, should not to be overshadowed. ‘We saw that it was very important to have a light structure and composition in the lobby that would fascinate without distracting too much from the overall observation and enjoyment of the space. So we started working on the anchor points, and as we proceeded with the design, we saw that it had to be a hemisphere,’ says Tarek Hegazy, founder of Living Design. And adds: ‘Perhaps, in hindsight, we were really demanding. We wanted the structure to look perfectly spherical both inside and out, which was very difficult to achieve’.
Lodes took up the challenge and created a customised configuration in line with their ‘Out of Scale’ and ‘Standard Bespoke’ design concepts to meet the specific design requirements of the space. ‘With this requirement, we had to create something that had never been done before. A structure capable of supporting the composition and accommodating up to 868 drivers inside it, as well as four drivers placed at the top of the central element, which at the same time allows natural light to penetrate from the ceiling,’ says Massimiliano Tosetto, Managing Director of Lodes.
For the project, the Venetian lighting manufacturer designed both a customised canopy and a special solution that facilitates installation and maintenance. The overall composition is 4.8 metres high and has a diameter of four metres. The conical metal structure consists of 20 rings and provides the basis for the rod-shaped luminaires from Lodes' “A-Tube Nano” collection. Placed at different heights, they form a fascinating dome of light. By anchoring them to the room's skylight, the possibility of letting in natural light was also taken into account. ‘Working with Lodes on the Kempinski project for us was a great opportunity, first of all, to show what kind of projects Lodes can assist, develop and finally deliver’, says Duncan Agius of ESS LTD, strategic partner of Lodes. (am)
