Completed in 2024, the project designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) has transformed the area around the world-famous Paddington Station into a new and vibrant district.
The centrepiece of the project is an 18-storey mixed-use building with office space and the highest rooftop restaurant in West London, with panoramic views over Hyde Park.
Inspired by the lightness of the steel and glass architecture of Paddington Station, designed in the 19th century by engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Grade 1 listed, RPBW has created a cubic, glazed structure that appears to float above the ground. The lighting design studio WSP worked closely with the architect to enhance this effect through a tailored lighting strategy, while balancing the requirements of the local administration, site constraints and sustainability. Indeed, one of the biggest challenges was to meet the diverse and often conflicting requirements of multiple stakeholders, including the City of Westminster, Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail.
The project also faced significant construction challenges, particularly with regard to underground services and the integration of bespoke lighting solutions within an already heavily built hub. The lighting design was refined through extensive testing and calibration to ensure optimisation of lighting levels, contrast ratios and reflection control.
The lighting design team worked closely with the construction team and the architect to ensure that the lighting elements could be repositioned or adapted without compromising performance, energy efficiency and overall aesthetics. The lighting columns, on which Woody projectors with street optics are installed, were specifically designed to align with the architectural scale of the building and the surrounding urban fabric. The forecourt lighting strategy was based on simplicity, using a minimum number of lighting elements to achieve clarity, safety and seamless integration. In addition to the pole-mounted projectors, the square features iWay bollards with symmetrical optics, which in some cases alternate with bollards, ensuring perfect aesthetic continuity. The functional lighting does not overwhelm the architectural composition and, to optimise energy efficiency and responsiveness, the system is managed, both with time settings and with sensors for detecting natural light, so that artificial lighting is only used when needed.
The lighting effect designed for the building's canopy helps to create an effect of lightness. Platea Pro projectors with asymmetrical optics, together with the special luminaires used in the suspension version, ensure the necessary level of illumination for both the floor below and the adjacent areas. Under the canopy is also "Somethinging", a work by Pae White, which, in addition to receiving the diffused light present in the environment, also receives direct lighting from some Palco Inout with medium optics installed on the base.
For the retail areas, ten-cell Laser Blade Inout recessed luminaires with Wide Flood optics were chosen to create a soft, diffused light that enhances the shopping experience, integrated and complemented by the effects of Underscore 15.
The WSP project and the lighting solutions adopted enhance safety, visual appeal and connection, making Paddington Square an iconic landmark within London's evolving urban fabric.
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