"CDS" BAGNOLI NAPLES, IT

DESCRIZIONE: "CITTA’ DELLA SCIENZA" RESTAURANT ..... In Bagnoli, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy overlooking the Bay of Naples and facing...

"CITTA’ DELLA SCIENZA" RESTAURANT ..... In Bagnoli, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy overlooking the Bay of Naples and facing the island of Nisida, a steel plant, first built in 1905, which grew over the years to an enormous industrial complex was closed and finally abandoned in 1991. Through time, attempts were made to salvage the area and the buildings which once housed the blast furnaces and all the other steelworks structures of this oversized area which after the abandonment had become a desolate post-industrial desert. Recently a renovation project, which used the original early 20th century buildings and sheds, has reclaimed the area for a number of activities including “La Città delle Scienza” an hands-on science museum, as well as a science research and study centre. A restaurant which was designed, during the day, to serve the many school groups, conference participants and others visiting the museum and, in the evening, to cater to a more sophisticated and trendier restaurant-goer looking for both ambiance and more refined cuisine. DAYTIME LIGHTING Since the space, which was in fact an industrial shed, as going to be transformed into a restaurant that would serve two different kinds of clientele, one during the day and the other in the evening, we began our lighting project by studying the daylight and it’s varying effects and quantities during the different seasons as well as its visual and psychological effects. Once completed we were able to proceed to the actual design of the lighting. INCANDESCENT LIGHTING Because of the peculiarity of the architectural features of the building we tried to maintain the feel of an industrial shed and thus used High Bay type fixtures which, we believed, would reinforce this feeling. These kind of fixtures are designed almost exclusively for big industrial plants and other large enviroments and therefore for economy and practical reasons they have a very wide luminous distribution. Such very wide “industrial” luminous distribution, we felt wouldn’t be so suitable for a restaurant illumination with two distinct types of clientele (daytime and evening). We therefore decided to use these fixtures because of their “look” but used them mounting, in an unorthodox manner, Par38 120W 12° Spot bulbs. These “bulb modified” High Bays , installed in clusters of four, 5 meters from the floor, provided the wide enough areas of illumination at floor level we wanted and, at the same time, created darker areas which helped to define the depth of field of the surroundings . Naturally this visual effect which we wanted to create was carefully studied and lighting calculations were made before the client approved the project. FLUORESCENT AMBIENT LIGHTING The use of these modified High Bays obviously gave an overly dramatic effect with too much of a quantitative diversity between one area and another. Because of this, four simple and inexpensive fluorescent warm light fixtures 2x54W K=3000° were installed on the upper side of the tie beam of every truss. The light which resulted was reflected off the ceiling by these practically invisible fixtures and gave a indirect and diffused ambient lighting which softened, without cancelling, the areas of strong shadow. This use of fluorescent lighting combined with the incandescent High Bays was fully studied and lighting calculations were made and approved by the client before proceeding. DECORATIVE WALL LIGHTING The lighting of the large decorative panels and the maxi clocks, indicating the time in various world capitals, along the side walls was achieved using light tracks installed at a height of 5 meters and placed 70 cm. from the walls. So as not to add any invasive visual effects, the fixtures that were used were among the most anonymous and simple ones available. The bulbs that were mounted were Par30 100W 10° Spots to light the clocks and Par30 100W 30° Floods to light the decorative panels. DIMMER PROGRAMMING Particular care was given, during the project development, to the dimmer programming. The different fixtures and bulbs and grouping of fixtures used to illuminate the different architectural elements and interior design, together with the complication of day and evening areas and the diversified clientele, complicated the planning of the circuits. The scenes used however were the usual ones of morning, noon and evening with possible seasonal variations and special settings for special events