MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

The Neuron Pod in London’s Whitechapel is an eye-catching 10m-high learning and community centre designed by the late architect Will Allsop. With a complex lighting scheme based around flexible fibre optic ‘dendrites’, getting things right required creativity, careful planning and doggedness, as Mark Sutton Vane recalls

By Mark Sutton Vane

For me, lighting schemes should tell a story. They should take the ideas a building wants to tell, or the design team wants to communicate, or the function that a building needs to emphasise and show how it works. The lighting designer takes those requirements, perhaps exaggerates them a bit, maybe emphasises them.

But the key is they tell the ‘story’, sell the dream, make that emotional ‘thing’ happen, grab the heart – through light. Through what the eyes see, the heart can then feel; for me, great lighting design is all about the emotions of the building.

This was very much the case when I was asked to develop the lighting scheme for The Neuron Pod. The Neuron Pod is part of Queen Mary University’s Centre of the Cell science education centre in Whitechapel, east London.

It is a 10m-high, 23m-long learning and community centre which opened in May last year and is connected to the Blizard Institute (part of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry) via a bridge.

It was designed by the late, great architect Will Alsop, who I felt honoured to be able to work with, even though, tragically, he died during the construction of this project; so he never saw the finished building. But he was a delight to work with.

FIBRE OPTIC ‘DENDRITES’ A neuron has a long stem and then has ‘hairs’ which stick out, which are called dendrites. So that was the inspiration; that was Will’s idea. You are in a place that is all about learning about biology and cells, yet at the same time you are effectively learning inside a cell.

The Neuron Pod, therefore, is constructed from 13 large steel sections, each pierced by hundreds of fibre-optic LED ‘dendrites’, which light up and colour change at night.

When it came to developing the lighting scheme, we worked through a whole series of concepts, both drawings in pastels and more scientific renderings. And we played around with the dendrites.

We knew, for example, that they would have to bend in the wind, and so we designed prototypes which then lived for a year on the roof of the factory where they were made in Scotland (by manufacturer UFO), so we could check that they did work and withstand the temperature, wind and rain and everything else.

I am very glad to say that, so far, they have stood the test of time and withstood all that the elements have thrown at them. The dendrites also needed to long, flexible and lightweight, able to be grouped together in large quantities and easily maintained.

The building arrived on site in one piece, pre-fabricated, and was just lowered down into position. It already had the holes for the dendrites pre-drilled all over it. When you went inside it was absolutely incredible, because there were all these holes that the fibre optics were going to shoot out of. The builders first sprayed the whole inside with a special, very thick and strong, insulation material. But they put a plug in each hole to ensure that, first, all the insulation they were spraying did not go shooting out of the holes but, second, so that we would know where each of the holes was when it came to installing the lighting scheme.

 The Neuron Pod during installation showing (clockwise from top left) it being lowered on to site, the internal holes for the ‘dendrites’, the external fixing process, and removing the insulation ‘plugs’ to enable the dendrites to be installed

first fix electrical team went in to start taking out the plugs and inserting the dendrites. We did a few tests to make sure they worked before we went too far. Fortunately, they did!

Then we had to start lining the whole thing up, which was one of the most challenging aspects of the project. The dendrites on the outside are powered by fibre optic light boxes. There are 12 fibre optic light boxes, each of which does 42 dendrites on the outside.

Then there is a thirteenth box that powers the flush fittings on the underside of

the building, on the under-belly. This under area, again supplied by UFO, comprises 42 P2 paver fittings, which shine downwards on to the ground

For the dendrites, you can do rippling patterns, you can chase them, you can dim them up or down. The under-belly lighting, similarly, uses the exact same light source, exactly the same RGBW DMX controls, so you can mimic the same shapes, colours, and twinkle effects happening both outside and inside the building.

But to do all this, we had to make sure every single dendrite was in the right place and connected to the right light box in order to be able to get the programmed effects working.

This meant there was a huge amount of co-ordination needed from both inside and outside, with teams both inside and outside needing to work closely together. First, someone went to the outside and started installing the supporting mechanism. A ring was put on, sealed so as to be completely waterproof, and then screwed in firmly.

Each dendrite is a side-emitting fibre optic encased in an acrylic flexible tube. These were slowly pushed through, very carefully so as not to do any damage to the fibre. Finally, a collar was slid down the dendrite on to the outside and screwed in place, and firmly tightened.

We also knew that, once installed, we wouldn’t be able to get to the dendrites from the inside; they’re behind the insulation. Yet a key part of the design was that they had to be able to be replaced, if for example one should snap. So we designed them to be completely accessible from the outside, so you did not need to touch the fibres at all from the inside.

The reason for that is the Neuron Pod, as I mentioned at the beginning, is part of Queen Mary University of London’s Whitechapel campus; so it is part of a

MAKE LIGHTING ‘FOR GOOD’ Mark described the story behind his lighting scheme for The Neuron Pod at the launch of the ILP’s new ‘Lighting for Good’ portal, which is working to bring together lighting professionals, academics and others to share knowledge and collaborate. You can check it out and find out more by going to: www.theilp.org.uk/good

www.theilp.org.uk External photographs of The Neuron Pod by Jonathan Cole Photography

university. And students, as we all know, are terribly well-behaved!

We therefore had to check that the dendrites were well out of reach because, otherwise, it was just too tempting for people. We got one person to sit on the shoulders of another person and reach up, and so that is why the dendrites start a bit of a way up the building.

COLOUR-CHANGING FUNCTIONALITY Inside, the lights are supposed to look like little groups of cells. They give a whole range of colours from controls located by the door. You can change to a whole range of patterns or colours; you can have a lot of fun with it. You can have everything from very high levels of white light for working, through to more atmospheric colour-changing light or dimmer settings.

The Neuron Pod is in the Centre of the Cell, a fantastic institution, because there is a real belief about bringing education to local people. It is estimated that since the Centre of the Cell opened in 2009, more than 180,000 young people and adults have joined one its activities.

I have heard some wonderful stories of people who have come from very deprived backgrounds and come through this organisation and have ended up flowering into the most fantastic successes academically and in their careers. Which is of course great; this project – and this building – is part of something exciting for the world outside. And I’m so glad that the lighting scheme has able to be a part of that, too, been able to be a part of telling that inspiring ‘story’.

Mark Sutton Vane BA(Hons) Arch IALD FSLL FRSA is principal at Sutton Vane Associates

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