Projects and Case Studies

Abu Dhabi Financial Center

UAE

Situation

  • Abu Dhabi Financial Center is a uniquely designed building that faces the waterfront of Al-Maryah Island.
  • The building is located on top of the Galleria Mall with the rear side of the facade facing the mall entrance. It is shaped as a trapezoid to individually stand out.

The Challenge

  • With the purpose of being eco-friendly, the building requires the front and rear facade to be illuminated with LED direct view lights. The lighting fixture must fit inside 4-1/2 foot long U channels installed at the facade of the building.
  • Warm and cool white colors are required to run during normal operating times. The lighting fixtures must be consistent with their color uniformity when outputting white colors.
  • An option for RGB effects and to play video animations is required for special occasions. Both facades must be controlled and can be manually synced.
  • A lighting control system that can be synced with the building management system is required and must have the option to be upgraded in the future.

Actions

  • A design was proposed using Philips Color Kinetics iColor Accent Powercore.
  • The lighting fixture was customized by Philips Color Kinetics from 4 feet to 4.5 feet for this project as a special requirement to fit inside the U channels. The LED chips were upgraded as well to accommodate the requirement of having color uniformity when it is outputting white colors using Color Kinetics patented Optibin technology that automatically adjusts the color range when connected with other similar lighting fixtures. This was applied to future lines of iColor Accent Powercores.
  • The lighting fixtures were addressed to four pixels per address to accommodate the option for playing video animations and RGB effects.
  • Two Light System Managers from Philips Color Kinetics were used. One for each side of the facade to individually accommodate the number of lights with their corresponding IP addresses. Two keypads are connected to their respective Light System Managers and make it easy to switch between the lighting shows assigned to the buttons.
  • The Light System Managers were connected via RS232 to the Lutron Building Management System to trigger the shows that are controlled through the keypad as an optional override.

Results

  • The installed facade lighting plays animated shows during special events.
  • The Galleria Mall utilizes the facade lights to play shows for its own special occasions as an ambient backdrop.
  • The facade is able to scroll text and images and play videos that can be seen across the island.
  • The lighting control system can be easily upgraded to have remote access, automated building synchronization, and the ability to add more lights if required.