Citeluz will illuminate the façade of the Museum of Fine Arts of Santiago de Chile with LED technology in 2013

The company Citeluz has presented to the City Council of Santiago de Chile a plan to illuminate the four faces of the Museum of Fine Arts of the Chilean capital with the aim of highlighting its architectural value. To achieve this, will be installed 300 LED projectors, of which 180 point to the façade. In addition, the glass dome will be blue during the nights.

From the first semester of 2013 the four faces of the Museum of Fine Arts of Santiago de Chile will be illuminated by 300 projectors with LED lights, 180 of which will be pointing only at the façade. It is an initiative promoted by the Consistory of the Chilean capital, in collaboration with the Brazilian company Citeluz, subsidiary of the French CiteLum, que iluminó parte de la Catedral de la Sagrada Familia en Barcelona, algunos canales de Venecia y la torre Oriental Pearl de Shanghai.

El proyecto ha sido desarrollado por el arquitecto brasileño Fabiano de Olivera Xavier y por el diseñador Alain Maître. En el informe técnico que realizaron, explican que “la actual iluminación se encuentra bastante dañada, con varios equipos destruidos o sin funcionar”. Es por eso que contemplan aumentar la potencia luminosa a 11 kilowatt en torno a las cuatro caras del edificio. Como es tecnología LED, se obtendrá un mejor rendimiento energético. “Se podrá llegar a disminuir en casi dos tercios los costes de mantenimiento”, señala Rubén Bahamondes, head of the department of public lighting of the Municipality of Santiago, who details that the frontis will concentrate 180 projectors of different sizes and will be located in different points of facades (Cornices, stairs and balconies, Etc.). "This is to highlight the structure and forms of the construction", adds Bahamondes.

In addition, the project designers' report adds that the existing installation is very much in view, and that the equipment has inadequate dimensions in relation to the current possibilities. "This results in a distorted view of the construction with too marked contrasts", breaks down the evaluation.

The details

To highlight the museum's classic architecture, a projected light shade of warm white shall be used, but also details in cold white. With this, it is intended to create contrasts on the stone material and beige color. Another of the notorious changes will be reflected in the upper part of the structure of the Fine Arts. This is the old Belgian glass dome, which will be illuminated in blue at night thanks to a series of projectors located inside the building.

"It will be a very relevant icon from the local point of view., because we do not have another building in the commune that has lighting of this level. In addition, highlight the urban context in which it is inserted; it is a building tucked in the middle of a forest, as is the Forest Park, lo que lo hace diferente a otros espacios de la comuna”, ha asegurado Bahamondes.

Haces para modernizar

Al analizar el proyecto, Oriana Ponzini, la arquitecta de OP Iluminaciones, opina que la obra será un aporte para la ciudad. “Es relevante poner en valor el patrimonio y enriquecerlo buscando luces que lo destaquen, resaltar elementos que le dan carácter y, also, que eso se logre a partir de artefactos que no estén a la vista”, Ensures. Para la especialista, “es importante que la nueva iluminación sea sostenible, para que ésta se pueda mantenerse en el tiempo”, Concludes.

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