A fairy-tale of light

Casino Square, Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monte Carlo’s legendary Casino Square attracts the international players. Cherubs, mouldings, cornices and balconies, all are lighted to reveal the artistry of the architecture.

Famous throughout the world for its many artistic and sporting events, the vitality of Monte Carlo developed during the belle époque. Dominating the bay of Monaco is the famous Casino, a gaming house established by the Societé des Bains de Mer (SBM) in 1863. Under the enlightened management of the billionaire François Blanc, it made Monaco a synonym of fortune, gaming, holidays and travel. Today it is the main building in the square, having been increased in size and then embellished and rebuilt. In 1878 it gained a neo-classical frontage surmounted by two pinnacles designed by Charles Garnier, architect of the Opéra de Paris.

The Hôtel de Paris was built in 1864 on the model of the Grand Hotel in Paris. Opposite the hotel, on the other side of the square, is the Café de Paris, with magnificent windows again by Garnier. Renovated throughout, the new Café de Paris was inaugurated on 21 July 1988. The entrance hall, the drugstore and the huge bistrostyle terrace pleasantly complement the rest of the building, permitting the Café de Paris to retain its place in the first rank of Monegasque tourist facilities.

© Pierre Crouzet

The SBM had been planning to illuminate the Casino Square for some time. The approach of the new millennium accelerated things, and in 1998 the lighting contract was put out to tender. On the strength of his international references and computer-generated visualisations of the end result, the lighting designer Alain Guilhot was engaged to carry out the work. Amajor task was that of ensuring that the numerous luminaires employed in the various lighting installations remained as unobtrusive as possible. This work was carried out in collaboration with the technical-services department of the SBM. Besides the traditional solutions adopted to this end, like the use of small floodlights, many embedded in the ground, a number of original solutions were developed. For example, at the side entry, which is reserved for the Monaco royals, two glassfibre pedestals have been introduced, identical in appearance to the existing ones of stone, to hide from view the floodlights lighting the façade.

The power cables for the lighting of the hotel have also been cleverly hidden. Some are fed through false rain-water pipes, while others are masked behind glass-fibre cornices running between the windows. Another major challenge was the completion date. In two months of work, more than 1000 floodlights and twenty-five kilometres of cabling had to be installed. This called for both skilled technicians and careful planning, a team of fifty workers using ten mobile platforms dealing efficiently with any contingency.

© Pierre Crouzet

The lighting was switched on at midnight on December 31, 1999. And the effect is certainly no less spectacular than that predicted in the computer simulation. The whole of the frontage of the Casino is lit by floodlights hidden in regularly-spaced diffusing pits one metre away from the façade. The symmetrical composition of the building is emphasised by the extra brightness of the lighting on the central part.

This is provided by ground-recessed Pompeï floodlights equipped with the CDM-T metal halide lamp of 3000 K and having a symmetrical, narrow-beam light distribution. The windows on the first storey of the Casino are picked out by twin floodlights fitted with the SDW-T White SON lamp of 2500 K located at the inside ends of each balcony, while the windows on the second storey are underlined by small dichroic halogen lamps.

The third-storey columns of the Hôtel de Paris are also underlined by small dichroic halogen lamps. Each span is surmounted by a pinnacle, which is accentuated by narrow-beam floodlights of 3000 K while the piers of the façade are lit by wide-beam units of 2500 K. The copper-clad and glazed-tile roof of the Casino and the zinc-clad roof of the Hôtel de Paris are both illuminated by a line of fluorescents, which serve to give some depth to the buildings. In both cases, the lighting reveals the details of the architecture and adds an otherwise missing dimension when darkness falls. ■

Author: Vincent Laganier

Project team

Building owner: Societé des Bains de Mer (SBM)

Lighting design: Alain Guilhot, Architecture Lumière Conseil

Project management: Patrick Rainaut, Michel Borgio

Work and Technical Service Management of the SBM: Thierry Guilhot, Architecture Lumière Conseil

Installation: SEE, Square Electrique, Spie Trindel

Lighting equipment: Philips Lighting