Chimelong Spaceship Theme Park Facade

Lead Designers Ashley Yin

Entry Description

The world’s largest indoor aquarium, a futuristic 1/2-mile-long structure, posed several challenges to floodlighting solutions due to its reflective aluminum panels and parabolic shape. The lighting design team selected direct-view LEDs to create the most impactful sci-fi look at night. As the structure is surrounded by tall hotels and a mountain-side resort, the roof is the dominant visible plane. This fact also supported the “direct-view” fixture approach, eliminating glare to higher viewpoints and reducing spill light into the night sky.
The internal glow from skylights appears to emanate from the bridge of the “starship,” while LED dots are denser at the structure’s apex to enhance the curvature. Lines of light outline the aerodynamic building profile, linear glass roof venting chambers, and the VIP restaurant - the “Captain’s Room.” All lights are fully integrated into the roof system for secure typhoon-proof installation and concealed wiring.
dots on the roof resemble marker lights along a runway, while continuous linear outlines the roof, visually tying it to the main building.
The site and facade lighting are controlled via a park-wide DMX system. Multiple scenes are programmed throughout the night and year for storytelling, synchronized with the connecting hotel tower (out of scope).

Sustainability Approach

All products used on the project are high efficacy good quality LED lighting fixtures that are locally resourced to reduce the energy consumption, maintenance cost and environmental impact. The design heavily relies on direct view suitable lighting to create a futuristic look building, which on the other hand is one of the most efficient ways of using lighting to build impactful experience of buildings at night. A sophisticated lighting control system is developed to not just create wonderful lighting scenes but also track and collect fixture usage data and power consumptions. Façade lighting is turned off after park operation hours to minimize the power consumption and light pollution to the sky. Multiple control scenes were programmed for high season and low season with reduced lighting shows to help achieve the sustainable design goals.