The word “Heliopolis” means “Sun City”, and is also considered the birth place of many of the ancient Egyptian gods including “Shu” a god of light whose home was the disk of the sun. The lighting concept took inspiration from this with flares of warm light, glowing sun disks, and dappled light patterns used throughout. Another key concept was about “discovery”. How the guest explores the spaces, what happens when he turns a corner, what is revealed when the sun goes down? Subtle light shows play within the Atrium at the sunset with warm reddish tones of the Cairo sky. As the sky grows darker different ambient light shows play slowly at the background with restricted colour palette in cooler moonlight tones. The warm stone finishes are lit with CTO colour conversion filters. This juxtaposition of warm and cold light sets the backdrop for concealed accent lighting. The discovery theme continues with underlit glass floors punctuating the zones and accent lights bringing shadows and texture to the space. Pattern, colour, intensity and control were the key design tools with LED, fibre optic, metal halide and halogen IRC technology used extensively.

The ballroom was to have a unique “wow” factor to differentiate this space from its competitors. Hand-made glass ceiling with animated lighting system was devised. Thousands of twisted glass rods edgelit with RGB LED system controlled by specialist lighting animation software customised for the project. Eight different ambient shows were created all themed around Egyptian symbology with its colours and patterns informing the animations.

Additionally the client can program custom shows and animations to suit his needs.

For more information contact the projects lighting designer Tapio Rosenius through the MBLD page in the Directory.