LONDON’S KNIGHTSBRIDGE ESTATE IS ONE OF THE CAPITAL’S MOST EXCITING DESTINATIONS. RETAIL, OFFICE, HOTEL AND RESIDENTIAL SPACE OCCUPIES ALMOST HALF A MILLION SQUARE FEET.

There’s a variety of building styles and periods and over 500 years’ architectural heritage on display.

The estate’s owners, Chelsfield, tasked lighting designer GIA Equation with creating a unique façade lighting concept to establish a powerful night-time identity.


The brief

Consistency and visual continuity. (Not easy when you consider the 500+ metres of façade with its many different textures, colours and finishes).

Light fittings had to meet a specific criteria too: high quality, easily maintainable, compact and discreet.

Importantly, installation had to be simple. Why? To minimise disruption to the buildings, passers-by and retail activity.


The solution

GIA’s lighting design used dynamic white LED luminaires (2700k to 6500k) allowing the hue to be tuned to each building and adjusted through the seasons. RBG functionality also meant that on special occasions, colours could be changed (made possible by on-board DMX drivers).

Working closely with GIA, acdc produced specially adapted PLAZAs, BLADES and FINOs and applied RAL finishes to blend them seamlessly into their surroundings.

PLAZA: multiple optics (12R and 18R) punched light up the height of columns and washed their bases, blending the different colour temperatures.

BLADE: this wall grazing linear illuminated the lower façade, providing a continuous and powerful light output with excellent colour rendering.

FINO: individual architectural features were highlighted with this linear luminaire. Its compact profile blended discretely into the façade.