Featured Project
Follow the light

To create an attractive, high-profile public space that also serves as the entrance to an underground museum. This was the task set for the architecture firm, Costa Lopes, in designing the site for the new Museum of Moeda in Luanda, Angola’s capital city. To this end, the architects developed an artificial topography offering a range of spatial situations – from narrow alleyways to broad stairwells to a lawn that invites relaxation. The visual highpoint here is the museum’s impressive entrance: four roofs soar above, each on a single support, like asymmetrical sun sails. Their metallic cladding reflects the sunlight during the day.

And at night, light reflections also play an important role in the space’s design. The floor-embedded LED lighting lines from Ado Lights by TTC Timmler Technology guide visitors to the museum entrance, which is marked by crisscrossing lines of light. The LED lighting lines (in lengths of roughly 46, 55 and 61 meters) suffuse the plaza with a soft light. Given the city’s high moisture level and close-proximity to the sea, V4A stainless steel profiles were selected for the lighting lines to maximize protection against corrosion. The lighting lines subdivide the plaza into triangular sections, a shape that is repeated in the design of the nine, elevated plant pots. These are highlighted to great effect using LED spotlights that illuminate the plants from below. Ado Lights chose 4,100 Kelvin as the light hue for the spots and lines, which is roughly equivalent to the intensity of moonlight.