Uplighting an illustrious meeting point.
We recently completed a bespoke architectural lighting installation at one of Sydney's well-known cultural and tourist attractions.
The building’s lower concourse is defined by a series of distinctive mushroom-shaped concrete columns. They support the level above and act as the architectural feature of the space. Thousands of visitors pass by and meet here every day.
To enhance this highly pedestrianised space, the client approached us to design a solution to illuminate the unique columns. We designed a solution using custom designed full-colour mixing LED fittings that could wash the columns from base to disc cap.
Completed
July 2025
Lighting Control
ETC EchoTouch
Luminaires
Custom RGBW LED
Programming
Lux Imperium
Photos
Steve Hendy
To highlight the distinctive shape of the columns, off-the-shelf uplighters were not suitable. To solve this shortcoming, we designed a custom curved RGBW LED fitting to wrap around the base of each circular column. The result is a low-profile ring of light that sits low to the floor and throws light evenly up and around the column and disc cap. Glare and visual impact are carefully controlled with the fittings featuring honeycomb louvres and bespoke shrouds located at the column bases.
The system needed to be flexible enough for operational staff to use it daily and powerful enough to integrate with the wider building infrastructure for scheduling and overrides. We installed an ETC EchoTouch which provides staff with a simple touchscreen interface whilst supporting a wide range of external controls.
The EchoTouch is integrated with the building management system. The facilities team can schedule the system as part of the wider concourse environment, with operating periods and events programmed centrally and run automatically.
The concourse runs from early morning to late evening, seven days a week. As there is no shutdown period, the install needed to happen in a single overnight. We coordinated the installation with the venue's facilities team, the in-house electrical contractor, and security team. The lights were fitted, cable installed and terminated, EchoTouch commissioned, and the BMS integration was tested. All between the last visitor leaving the night before and the first arriving the next morning.
The columns are now bathed in a wash of colour providing a distinctive meeting point each day for the thousands of visitors.
