The Orion Building

Location: Birmingham

There were two areas of LED lighting, firstly the niche lighting where to deliver the effect depicted in the Lighting Designer’s CGI, njo designed and built the “LA102” Series Linear Colour Change LED fitting, with internal cable containment. The luminaires were built in 5.7m sections, with individual DMX control . Over 300 metres of this product was installed in the niche, all wired down through the luminaire housing into centralised control boxes in the basement of the building. The second area was the crown enhancement was provided by colour change “LINX” units, with DMX-driven njo control gear.

"The Orion Building is a landmark development in Birmingham close to New Street railway station and The Mailbox. The building boasts one of the city's tallest residential towers - it is 26 stories high. The luxury properties are a collaboration between international fashion designer John Rocha, BBLB Architects and Crosby Homes.

Hoare Lea's commission to design the exterior lighting came about when it's lighting principal,Dominic Meyrick, happened to walk past the development and on impulse telephoned Crosby Homes. Crosby Homes recognised that the exterior lighting design could make a significant difference and commissioned Hoare Lea design the scheme. This desire to create excellent exterior lighting has a strong advocate in Birmingham City council leader Mike Whitby. At MIPIM 2006 he pledged that one building a year would, including tall building, public spaces and railway arches.

The Orion Building contains more than 300 units comprising a mix of studios, one and two-bedroom apartments and penthouses. The exterior lighting had to express the nature of the contemporary homes within and visualisation was the key to enabling the client to see what the building would look like.

Designing an exterior scheme for a residential development raises specific issues. For example, there is concern about spill light into windows and also problems with continuity. In an office development the landlord or end user can dictate the look of the building in the evening. In a residential scheme this will depend on who is in, and who is out and whether they have drawn their blinds or not. Continuity cannot be provided by the interior lighting. At The Orion, visual continuity at night is provided by the exterior lighting specifically the tower.
 
Inspiration was drawn from the Orion nebula as seen through the Hubble telescope. The main colours visible are blue and purple - and these form the dominant palette in the scheme. These colours are generated by njo Technology's - attached to the “cut out”corner that wash light onto the rendered walls. the reflected light from this render creates a band of colour.

Technical challenges included the brief for all power and data to be supplied from bottom of the luminaries because no power penetrations could be made on the façade. The building also had a limited number of fixing positions on which to attach the luminaries and it was essential to solve the fixing problems, and to correspond with the internal structure, each luminaire is five meters long. Finally the LED in the extrusion can be precisely adjusted to minimise spill light into windows.
 
The client also wanted a 360-degree view at the top building. The gull-wing roof is lit with a similar LED strip. This creates a jewel effect that complements the roof's crown-like form. The result is an exterior scheme that adds drama to the Birmingham skyline, Provides consistency and complements the contemporary design of the interior. The success of the solutions demonstrated by the fact that Hoare Lea Lighting was also asked to produce concept designs for the reception area and penthouse.”

Products used: LA102