The lighting design firm Lichtvision was commissioned to develop a concept to illuminate the facades of the Humboldt Forum. The result was an intentional lighting of the facades in terms of intensities of illumination and their distribution.
The lighting design bathes the building in a uniform light. It accentuates the mighty presence of the Royal Palace in the heart of Berlin. The flat evenness of the light without much shadowing places priority on the building's three-dimensionality over its details so that it appears imposing and grand, especially from a distance. The height of the light points is necessary to avoid casting hard shadows and to create a uniform lighting.
The designers' lighting specifications were based on standard luminaires. Their design then needed to be integrated into the light columns that also illuminated the exterior areas. KARDORFF was commissioned with achieving these two tasks by using one type of light column.
First, the positions for the light columns were chosen by Kardorff Ingenieure to ensure that the entrances and views of the palace remained unobstructed. The desired light distribution at the defined positions had to be recalculated for the luminaires that can be used in Selux's LIF light column. The LIF light column was custom designed by Kardorff Ingenieure and has highly complex facade modules which can precisely aim individual LED using many separately adjustable deflective mirrors.
This made it possible to achieve the same lighting effect even with another product and at other positions than Lichtvision had originally designed.
As a result, the illumination of the square and the facade have been integrated into one luminaire.

Liljevalchs+ in Stockholm (architect: Wingårdhs) is the extension on the renowned Liljevalchs Museum for Contemporary Art.
The interplay between daylight and artificial light with the pronounced roofline design posed a particular challenge. The 170-square-meter roof sits atop the building above the two large exhibit halls like a crown with its 166 exposed concrete skylights.
The aim of our lighting design was to achieve the required high flexibility to light the exhibits while, depending on angle and position in the room, concealing the busbars and spotlights. Due to the skylights' height and geometry, direct sunlight is blocked out in the exhibit halls when the sun is low. We intensively analyzed the positions of the luminaires using simulations and 1:1 model tests (see graphics), so as not to disturb the clarity of the skylights' form.
In the absence of daylight, the exhibit halls are lit flexibly using spots on busbars and in the more level rooms using an additional linear lighting system that sits parallel to the walls. In the café and museum shop, backlit cloth panels hang under the ceiling.
Liljevalchs+ is the culmination of a holistic approach and close collaboration between all participants, in which every aspect concerning light in its complex relationship to architecture could be addressed.

The architectural ensemble at Alter Wall 2-32 is composed of five buildings directly next to Hamburg's City Hall. The historically listed block was renovated to house shops, restaurants and high-end office space, including a large interior courtyard. Central importance has been given to the new Bucerius Passage, an arcade with bridge that now serves as a new and important passageway in Hamburg's city center.
We designed special lighting fixtures for this arcade: a pendant luminaire of a hyperboloid construction that is distinguished by interlaced metal bars from which light rings hang. Hidden in these rings are fixed light points that illuminate the floors and ceilings of the passageway and colonnade. The dimensions of the lighting fixtures vary widely depending on their position in order to match the given spatial dimensions.
These large-format light objects create a light motif visible from afar that harks back to the grand historical Alster arcades and gives this special place a festive atmosphere in the evenings.

The facade has 450 DMX-controlled lighting fixtures that offer endless possibilities for setting the scene. Additional spotlights have been positioned in the landscape in invisible niches to illuminate the dark areas of the facade. For special events, there are places to position temporary projectors which can be easily integrated into the control system. The lighting in the museum and its shop is designed to optimally present the writing implements, given their small formats.

Another milestone for our team: the lighting of a world heritage site and a large, internationally famous collection. In 2009, after ten years of intensive planning, we were able to handover the realized lighting concept in the restored Neues Museum. The discreet light atmosphere and the soft, yet precise
illumination of the objects – particularly Nefertiti – are highly admired by museum specialists and visitors. For the overall architecture, David Chipperfield received the 2011 German Architecture Prize, among other recognitions.