A Downtown Crystal

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ABOVE: Because surrounding ambient levels and competing signage at night are quite high, aimable, above-ground fixtures were chosen to achieve theatrical effects and higher light levels.

A GLOWING CRYSTAL

FOR DOWNTOWN FOR DOWNTOWN COLUMBUS COLUMBUS

Downtown Columbus, Ohio has a new sculptural symbol. “The Makers Monument” by sculptor Mark Reigelman is a cluster of perforated rectangular shafts posed at various angles, rising to a height of 20 ft. and resembling a crystalline formation emerging from the earth. Riegelman conceived his sculpture to reflect the city’s culture of craftsmanship and High Street as a maker’s hub. With a computational designer, he created a series of algorithms representing silhouettes of such images as a bowler hat for fashion, a saw blade for woodworking, and an automobile for technology. “From there, we broke up the digital model into hundreds of individual digital faces that were laser-cut,” explains Reigelman. The perforated steel sheets were bent to the shape of each element and welded together to form the final 7,000-pound work. Lighting also plays an important role in the piece, highlighting the perforations within each shaft. The lighting design was created by Francis Krahe & Associates with Lindsay Stefans serving as lead designer and project manager. “We had to balance between getting just the right positions to achieve the desired theatrical effect, while preventing glare.” The light was provided by six Lumenpulse Lumenbeam Grande fixtures, 3000K, fitted with a snoot and wire guard. The designers determined that in-grade fixtures could not be easily shielded. The standard snoot supplied the best cutoff for their purposes. Four of the Lumenpulse fixtures have 20-degree beam spreads, while two fixtures have 40-degree beam spreads. “We chose above-ground because we needed a fixture that was aimable to achieve the theatrical effects we wanted to achieve,” Stefans noted. “But we also needed to have higher light levels. The ambient levels on High Street at night are quite high. The surroundings have a lot of competing signage, street lighting and storefront lighting. It’s a very active street, with considerable nighttime pedestrian traffic as well,” she points out.•  Visit www.lumenpulse.com or Circle 238.

OFFICE TRENDS

Hospitality Trends Adapt to O ce Design

Parimatch Tech is sleek and informal, with space-defining lighting.

Parimatch Tech in Kiev, Ukraine is a living case study in how the basic objectives of hospitality design are being adapted to today’s smart office environments. Here, the cross-over of hospitality and commercial design changing the face of today’s workplaces is exemplified in the layout, furnishings, and lighting that combine art and technology.

Office design has come a long way since the German Quickborner Group introduced the open office concept almost 75 years ago. Their theory was to take staff workers out of individual offices and group them in separate work stations creating office landscapes. Corporations responded to the premise of lower operating costs, and higher productivity based on improved employee communication. Standardized overhead fluorescent lighting was a one-size-fits-all solution.

Since that era, the design pendulum has been swinging in the opposite direction. Lines are becoming blurred between commercial, retail and hospitality design, indicating fast-moving trends that are influencing the way people work. Flexibility has become a key component in attracting and retaining workers and overall employee productivity. Human-centric design, customized workspaces, and increased demand for relaxation areas are hot topics in interior office space design. Integrated creative lighting is now recognized as a critical element in the functional aesthetics to meet a company’s operational needs.

Parimatch’s Design Brief Established in 1994, Parimatch Tech has grown to become is an international product company that develops technology and marketing solutions in the games and entertainment industry for the brand Parimatch. Its main office is located in Limassol, Cyprus, with 2.6 million users worldwide. The 9,800-sq.-ft. Kiev office, which functions as a development center and coworking space, was occupied in May 2021.

Retained as architects and interior designers ABOVE: Single shafts of light frame the wall-waterfall that introduces a resort feel into the Parimatch Tech o ce’s reception. A pair of overhead fixtures are suspended horizontally from the ceiling.

STAFF WORK AREAS: Sound-absorbing panels allow for active discussions. A small attached booth is fitted for a Zoom conference. Overhead dropped strip lighting brings illumination to the work surface.

was the Kiev firm of ZIKZAK. Their introduction to the project was a design brief presented by Elena Dikanyuk, Administrative Director of Parimatch Tech: “The idea was to create a space in the new realities of the office and business environment that would combine the interior associated with business travel and leisure. To achieve this goal, we decided to adapt style standards used in the planning of spaces for hotel lobbies and airport business class lounges. We want to create optimal functionality that would allow us to utilize space as much as possible, applying all the latest advancements in the planning of commercial offices.”

ZIKZAK architect Lilia Tsymbal and her colleagues were responsible for the planning and final delivery of the office, including the custom design of the lighting fixtures. Collaborating on the lighting program were studio architects Yuri Karakozov, Oksana Petrovskaya and Igor Yashin. The full team took into consideration that attitudes to the workplace are significantly changing. In the post-COVID era, they reasoned, when remote working will still be an option, old offices will not attract staff to return to an office environment. Their design of the Parimatch workplace needed to look and feel like a sleek residence or a destination hotel, thus creating a more desirable place for the employees to populate a central working environment.

“Just as hospitality facilities are designing for their guests, workspaces have shifted their focus from the employer to the employee,” noted Tsymbal. “Private offices and desk spaces are getting smaller, while common areas designed to foster collaboration are getting larger and more inspiring, places that ‘enliven the senses.’” She added that workplaces are now becoming more boutique-like, fun, casual, quiet and comfortable.

A Hospitality-Inspired Workplace? “The main idea we applied to the Parimatch Tech project was to combine the latest design trends with its corporate identity as a high-tech company,” said Tsymbal. Three-quarters of the office is without partitions. Employees have free range of the office to carry out their assignments. There are few assigned work spaces so they find a place to their liking to work, relax and communicate. “Space is an accumulator of energy,” she explained, “which creates a positive drive and a desire to achieve more.” The background has a warm color palette that is sophisticated with informal, artistic overtones that emphasize the various geometric expressions of the LED lighting program. Different lighting scenarios were created, with dimming controlled by DALI in the central and transit zones. The layout is divided into zones, each with a distinctive lighting treatment.•

“SPACE IS AN ACCUMULATOR OF ENERGY, WHICH CREATES A POSITIVE DRIVE AND A DESIRE TO ACHIEVE MORE.”

© Andrey Avdeenko, courtesy of Zikzak

ABOVE: Overlooking the Dnieper River, the terrace also functions as an outdoor social hub. Sconces and fl oor-mounted fi xtures provide dollops of soft light. In interior spaces, overhead light sculptures, formed by an interplay of LEDs in irregular rectangular shapes, attached to the ceiling at varying heights add depth and perspective.