The brief was for the sails to be tinted red. The problem was that nothing could hang down below a very shallow series of rafts (housing cabling and control equipment) suspended in the ceiling or in the gaps between the rafts, where the generic environmental lights were fitted, nor could anything be attached to the floor. It was clear that conventional lighting of any sort for the sails was not viable, so Rowell asked i-Vision to devise an LED mounting that fitted into a 200mm channel which could then be bolted onto the single 'shotgun' extrusion holding the top of the sails. These extrusions were then hung below the rafts. The LED solution also had to be achieved within the budget that had originally been allocated for using conventional spotlight fixtures.
i-Vision produced the LED strips using high-brightness Luxeon emitters with 25 x 8 degree lenses, on white PCBs and with clear lens-holders to maximise the reflective property of the fitting. Optimising the fittings was vital, as the red LEDs are competing against a very brightly lit white environment. i-vision's LED strips can be customised to fit the exact application, and at Topshop, the two 3.5 metre wide sails are lit with eight LED strips, and the two 4.5m ones with 10 strips on each.
(Lee Baldock)
