Denver Airport Transit Center

The Denver International Airport welcomes and sends off more than 53 million travelers each year. To deal with this traffic, a new train zone was created. The A Line, as it is known, whisks passengers to and fro the airport and downtown. A compliment to the airport's famous tented architecture, the metal and glass canopies above the airport train station are eye-catching and can be seen from afar. The wooden ‘logs' of the Shadow Array installation that lines the sound-barrier banks along the tracks are equally as striking.

The Denver International Airport hired SNAIK Atelier Yann Kersalé Light Art, a studio of lighting designers based in Paris. ‘‘We wanted to do something that was coherent and to create a connection between the lighting and the travelling public,'' says Fabienne Maman, Associate Responsible for Technical and Artistic Concepts at SNAIK Atelier Yann Kersalé Light Art. The idea was to install a luminaire at each intersection, between the canopy lozenges, creating an illusion of snowflakes.

‘‘We needed fixtures that were neutral enough, from a design perspective, but with a lens surface and an implementation that could be made star-shaped to produce the snowflake effect,'' says Maman. ‘‘The Lumenbeams we chose, fit our foot-candle criteria and all our specifications, perfectly.'' The Lumenbeam Large luminaires in Dynamic White were chosen due to their ability to oscillate between atmospheres. When the station area is underpopulated, cold whites are used. When the area is busy, warm whites take over. The whites are also adjusted to synchronize with both the daylight and night. The end result is that the Lumenbeams allow for the station area to blend with its surrounds while still producing a coherent and distinct mark of its own.

‘‘Lumenpulse luminaires were selected for their ease of installation and because they would complement the metallic structure. They seem to hug the architecture as if they had been there from the start. Their compactness and their superior luminous flux were of great interest to us,'' says Maman. ‘‘We were also pleasantly surprised of how any of the technical questions we had were instantly addressed by Lumenpulse. This eased the installation immensely."

Now that the Lumenbeams have been incorporated into the canopies of the train area, passengers are treated to a comforting and calming arrival or departure. The canopies act as a portal, a lit gateway to an experience, a return to loved ones, or the mysteries of what will come. The altering Dynamic White light of the Lumenbeams not only quietly guide passengers, they also offer a respite from the clichéd lighting we experience every day.

EQUIPMENT SPECIFIED

89 x Lumenbeam Large Dynamic White, 20°
38 x Lumenbeam Large Dynamic White, 40°