Banana Republic — drama and energy efficiency

London, United Kingdom

Energy efficiency, drama and technical innovation are all incorporated in the lighting scheme at the new Banana Republic store in Regent Street, London.

The project was Highly Commended in the Lighting Design Awards 2009, the project is the work of Light + Design Associates Ltd (LDA) and uses Helvar’s IMAGINE lighting control system to develop the identity of this iconic American brand for the European retail market.

HIGH LIGHT LEVELS EFFICIENTLY

Located on Regent Street in London’s West End, the new store is the Banana Republic’s flagship European store.

Set over 3 floors, the flagship store embraces the stunning architecture of the building and enhances it with striking interior design features and decorative pieces unearthed from across the globe.

LDA faced a number of challenges when putting together the scheme, as Torunn Saksvikrønning, Lighting Designer relates:

“Lighting plays an important role in helping any retail outlet attract customers. With Banana Republic, we were asked to create drama and use the lighting to articulate the space while maintaining relatively high light levels for shoppers across the store. This need had to married with keeping energy consumption low and any ongoing maintenance easy to carry out. The look and feel of the store was based on the existing American Store branding but adjusted to suit European tastes and we wanted to utilise recent developments in lamp technology. The use of the Helvar IMAGINE system helped us achieve this by combining reliability and ease-of-use.”

The finished Banana Republic lighting concept features a series of planar rafts with an array of angular adjustable flood and spot lights that have to work for the three different ceiling heights on each floor of the store: ranging from 2.3m to 4.8m.

“This all had to be achieved using the same family of lamps,” adds Torunn Saksvikrønning, “as Banana Republic had agreed to be a Beta test site for the new GE 35Watt Compact Metal Halide lamp”.

Being part of this award-winning project was for Steve Buckley, UK Sales Manager for Helvar, a positive experience:

“Working with LDA is always a pleasure – they are always able to deliver lighting schemes that excite and inspire, and it’s great to see the project gaining wider recognition through the Lighting Design Awards.”

Project credits: Architects: Gensler, M+E Engineers: ACDP Integrated, Building Services Ltd, Lighting Suppliers: Lucent Lighting Ltd, ACDC Lighting Ltd, Kalmar Lighting GmBh, Charles Edwards Lighting Ltd, Jona Hoad Bespoke (Pendant chandelier in stair well)

London, United Kingdom