Spectrum

Lead Designers Jenni Gillard

Entry Description

Is Spectrum the most spectacularly lit, ambient, economical, energy-lit-efficient and aged-friendly-lit housing commission complex in the world? Recognising Spectrum tells the world that great lighting design also helps the poor.
Spectrum comprises 64 apartments and commercial spaces. Four, three storey towers of illuminated glass argon/neon create a dazzling façade and statement of place. A beacon in a drab precinct.
Ambient indirect lit rooms and many lighting aids for aged and disabled people are imbedded, including artificial horizon lines, vertical accents for balance and full wall reflection. Spectrum's lighting uses an astonishingly low 1.3 watts/m2, so poor tenants pay little.
You can imagine the challenge of gaining acceptance for and designing four three-story illuminated glass neon/argon waterfalls to uplift the facade of an affordable housing complex. We cannot find a more spectacularly lit facade (or colour-enhanced fire-wells) for a similar type complex in the world.