Biarritz

When Napoleon III wanted a palace for his wife, the Imperatrice, Eugenie, he chose to build it at Biarritz on the Atlantic coast of France. Since then, Hotel du Palais has become a symbol of the town and the grandeur of times past. As part of the ongoing improvements towards the town’s attractions, it was decided to upgrade the lighting for the hotel. Previously, only one face of the hotel was illuminated and this used lines of xenon “festoon” type lamps which, over the years, had lost their sparkle. At this point, Biarritz Town invited the Parisian lighting designer, Franck Franjou, to design a new lighting scheme for the hotel. There were two challenges to overcome. The first was that the whole project from the initial concept to final commissioning had to be completed within six months. The second was how best to light this majestic building in keeping with its history and setting.

Spreading across 180,000 square meters, the lighting environment of the Carré de Soie Shopping Mall drew its inspiration from the powerful architectural forms. The undulating metal profiles provide a rhythm and identity that the lighting can accentuate. The project was designed by Laurent Fachard, Les Eclairagistes Associés, and the proposal was about bringing the mall to life at night, during the opening hours of the cinema. The proposal includes lighting the buildings, the walkways, the elevators and the car parks. As a result, at night, the architectural concept is enhanced by 16,000 RGB pixels made of Philips iColor Flex. Its flexibility allows it to be integrated easily in the structures. Pixels are addressed point by point separately to allow chromatic programmes that can change according to the seasons or other variables. This satisfies the management’s commercial needs for environmentally friendly illumination.