Back to NewsAnolis Lighting Scheme for Mairie de Pantin
The impressive Mairie de Pantin (town hall) is being illuminated by a new Anolis LED lighting scheme designed by Rozenn Le Couillard from Noctiluca commissioned by the city council to tastefully highlight their newly renovated flagship building.
The modern Renaissance-style building, constructed in 1850 and inaugurated as the district’s town hall in 1886, is in the town of Pantin, Seine-Saint Denis, now a suburb of Paris, and overlooks a square formed by the intersection of two major road arteries, the Avenue du Général-Leclerc and Avenue Édouard-Vaillant.
It received historical monument status in 2017, and that same year the renovation project was launched to recondition the roof and front façade.
The client specifically wanted a lighting scheme that could offer a stylish signature warm white look as well as dynamic-coloured effects, enabling them to transform the building for events and special occasions.
Rozenn looked for workable solutions that would offer this versatility and picked Anolis, using a combination of RGBW Outdoor IP67/IP68 rated ArcSource MC fixtures – ArcSource Outdoor 4MCs, ArcSource Outdoor 16MCs and ArcSource Inground 24MCs.
She worked closely with Bruno Francois at Anolis to ensure that the exact requirements to bathe the building in beautiful lumens were met.
As a protected building, architect Grégoire Oudin from APGO was also involved in the process. A major challenge was mounting the fixtures in the right places for optimal lighting effect, without damaging or compromising the integrity and appearance of the building.
The front features six distinctive vertical lines of light which define the symmetry of the architecture and highlight the ornate stonework and gargoyles that decorate the façade.
Around the base of the building – six at the front and four at the back – are 10 x Inground ArcSource 24MCs with 7 x 42 lenses and a 1 x 60 degree foil and this was to get a narrow angle one side of the light path and an elliptical one the other, keeping the lines up the building tight and vertical and in keeping with the desired effect.
Set back 2-3 metres or so from the façade, this proved the only solution for achieving this specific effect using a suitable RGBW architectural LED fixture.
The top sections of these vertical lines of light on the two end sections of the building – front and rear – are created using 12 x ArcSource Outdoor 4MCs with 24-degree lenses.
These elevated 4MCs had to match up precisely with the 24MC ingrounds down below which was a meticulous task.
For the main entrance, the first-floor balcony and the ornate vertical columns either side of both these features, five ArcSource 4 MCs are deployed.
Three of these are on the balcony itself. The middle one is fitted with a 7x42 degree lens to graze up the first-floor window central to the balcony, while the outer two have tighter 7-degree lenses to pick out the sculptures.
The remaining two 4MCs are fitted with 60 x 7 degree lenses, and they light the bottom of the balcony as well as lining up with the central two ingrounds which ensure that the entrance arch and doorway is precisely highlighted.
To crown the Mairie’s new lighting scheme, three 4MCs with 40 degree lenses are secured in the campanile / bell tower, so its inside and roof subtly shimmers.
At the back of the Mairie, two pole mounted 16MCs with 7 x 42 lenses sit approximately four metres high and positioned equidistant from the centre, joined by another two 16MCs, also with 7 x 42 lenses, located on the floor behind the handrail of a stone balcony that protrudes from the front of the centre section.
The original testing of fixtures took place two years ago during the renovation, and not all of it was properly accessible, so Rozenn and Bruno worked on lighting one side of the building and then replicated the basic positions for the other side of front façade.
The challenges were in all the detail and thought needed to produce the perfect vertical lines along the building, plus the usual issues of dealing with a historical monument. This also informed the use of the 4MCs as small and discreet light sources at the front.
Anolis’s strengths include the ability to create all the whites, including the subtleties of the various different colour temperatures, that the LD wanted with the one RGBW fixture. The proven reliability and quality engineering and robust build of the fixtures was also a big consideration.
Robe France delivered the fixtures to SPX and the installation was completed by CITEOS Grands Projets, a French urban lighting department of multi-national energy and infrastructure specialist, VINCI Energies.
The IP controlled Pharos controller can be accessed any time via the internet, and Anolis France worked with Lumieres Utiles, a company specialising in building control systems which consults with lighting designers and manufacturers to facilitate custom controllers with the right parameters for the individual project.
A different standard lighting scheme has been created for each of the four seasons which is primarily white with some restrained colour inflections.
There are currently 10 pre-programmed colour combinations for specific occasions, like pink for breast cancer awareness, the French flag, green for sustainability week, Christmas scenes and others, all chosen and fine-tuned by Rozenn.
Operation is via an automated schedule synchronised with the astronomical calendar, but this can be manually overridden at any time.
Everyone is delighted with this stylish installation which helps show off the unique and impressive architecture of the Mairie in a fresh contemporary light illustrating all the intricacy and elegance of its classical architecture.
Ends.
Photos by Olivier Hannauer - La Chouette Photo
