Huashan Hospital Dimmer Project - 17

Modern Art Deco hospital in Shanghai uses high-tech lighting controls

Reception area lighting

Shanghai may not be China's capital, but it is definitely China's gateway, financial capital, fashion center and coolest metropolis. Many of the finest Art Deco buildings have been handsomely renovated and transformed into upscale bars, restaurants and retailers. The dominant theme in design and decor is a fusion of modern Asian minimalism and Art Deco.

Clearly reflecting this trend, new hospital buildings recently opened by the Huashan Hospital at Pudong reveal a modernist interpretation of Art Deco in the ground floor lobby and reception areas, corridors and waiting areas.

One of the design challenges was lighting areas illuminated by both natural and artificial light. Areas such as the skylit lobby, corridors and waiting rooms - and Huashan's below-ground lab and lecture rooms, where side-view skylights admit natural light - were fitted with light-switching controlled by sensors programmed to provide a mixture of natural daylight and fluorescent lighting.

On the hospital's 6th and 7th floors are wood paneled conference rooms, meeting rooms and offices furnished in modern leather and wood furniture with distinct Deco influences. The Modernist/Deco fusion is exemplified in the executive boardroom, with a cleanly geometrical backlit wood-paneled frame surrounding the AV screen, and the classic Art Deco octagon-shaped lighting fixture, illuminated with remotely-controlled dimmable lighting featuring an integrated presentation AV interface.

Huashan Hospital offers luxurious private sickrooms with the latest in patient-care technology. Direct and indirect compact fluorescent lighting in these ward corridors is controlled by PFX System dimmer racks, operated from SP8 switchpanels. Light switchplates throughout the hospital are of hygienic stainless steel.

Design theme and execution aside, the modern hospital is necessarily highly focused on efficiency, and throughout the new facility Huashan Hospital opted for equipment featuring advanced energy-saving technology, robust operation and user-friendly convenience for all systems in reception, emergency, surgery, ward, sickroom and administration areas and conference facilities.

A lighting control system operating large areas of lighting 24/7 requires huge electrical usage, and must be managed very cost-effectively. With programmed schedules for switching lights on and off, installed systems contribute greatly to Huashan Hospital's energy efficiency program. Stand-alone systems for each floor or ward, networked together with a centralized monitoring and control system, effectively creates a whole-building lighting control system. Single-point-of-failure vulnerability is minimized, meeting a preset requirement of the designers.