PROJECT

DESCRIPTION

Project Name: Nightscape Lighting Design of Huangbudun Building Renovation
Design Company: Wuxi Lighting Co., Ltd
Location: Wuxi, China
Project category: landscape lighting
Design team: Huang Lei, Chen Chao, Huan Hongjun, Chen Siwei, Li Tianyi, Xia Yueyang, Bao Yuting, Ma Antao
Area: 608 square meters
Cost: 15000000 yuan
Completion time: June 10, 2022
Client Name: Wuxi Urban
Investment and Development Co., Ltd
Photographer: Wuxi Langqiao
Huangbudun is located at the exit of Brook Huishan, center of Gufurong Lake in Wuxi, Jiangsu. It’s formerly known as Xiaojinshan with a small round pier, and an area of 220 square meters. Surrounded by stone revetment, it’s the center of the ancient canal that stays south of Wuxi Wuqiao and exit of Brook Huishan, and the name is originated from Chunshen Jun (Huang Xie) who once led dredging Furong Lake here. The pier is circular, with an area of 220 square meters. It’s a stone-laying structure, surrounded by water. There are temples on the island along with incense. The north is the mouth of the Shuanghe, and the south is Jiangjianzhu. The white wall and black tiles of Huangbudun standing on the Grand Canal is brought to life in the dazzling night. A striking “pearl of the canal” appears on the blue water, carrying and displaying thousands of years of culture in Jiangnan area.
The repair project of Huangbudun is an emergency flood control program, the furbishing process aims to design without altering the original state of the cultural relics, and comprehensively excavate the historical and cultural heritage of Huangbudun; on the basis of maintaining the authenticity of the style, it employs lighting to add texture to the historical structure.
Huangbudun is known as “Little Golden Mountain”, and in the impression of Wuxi people, Huangbudun has always taken golden yellow as its dominant tone. This furbishing project maintains the major image of the "levitated golden mountain" of Huangbudun, so as to reflect the accumulation of historical and cultural heritage. Meanwhile, instead of staying similar to a resplendent view that traditional ancient buildings for commercial purpose reveal, it emanates a sense of secluded atmosphere.
Approaching the entrance of Huangbudun, the dotted lights on the floating wharf seem to guide the cruise ship to the shore. The surrounding walls display their luster, and the lighting at the top of the main landscape "Zhengqi Tower" enhances the structural beauty of the cornice and flying girders. The lights on the tile surface are intertwined with light and shade, and under the background of eco-friendly lamps, ancient buildings loom among the leaves, combing virtuality with reality in a palpable manner, which attract people to explore. The island looks like a fairyland on the water under the illumination, making Huangbudun demonstrate the more spectacular scenery than that during the time when the two emperors of Kangxi and Qianlong landed on the island sixth times.
In order to prevent the lamps from causing any negative influence on the appearance of the ancient structures, the luminaires are installed in a hidden way. The duct clamp adopts the same color as the cylinder while being painted and wrapped in a decorative texture on the outside to accomplish a completely concealed effect. The whole project employs DMAX512 digital dimming protocol to perform RGBW dimming control for the entire luminaires to meet the variegated presentations of lighting effects during various holidays.
The technical crux in this case lies in the special geographical location of the small islands in the river, and during the flood season the water level will rise and flood some of the islands. Therefore, when the lamps are set up and installed, it’s necessary to cooperate with the newly built flood control facilities, and with the installation of the mobile anti-flood wall, all the lamps inside the wall will not be swamped, which improves the service life of the luminaires. In the meanwhile, all lamps would comply with IP68 waterproof specifications to further strengthen the protection. The power supply of the whole island, simultaneously, adopts a time control system, according to which, the lighting system starts from 7:00 P.M. and turns off at 10:30 P.M. to achieve the effect of energy saving.