Lighting Istinye Park

Lighting Istinye Park
Istanbul’s vibrant new 300-store urban omnicenter integrates lighting with dramatic architecture

By Vilma Barr, New York Editor
July 01, 2009

Orjin Deri Konfeksiyon San. Ve. Tic., A.S., courtesy Development Design Group

Located on 32 acres near downtown Istanbul, Turkey, Istinye Park Shopping Center has become a destination for locals and tourists alike. Offering a mix of 300 retail stores, Istinye Park also boasts a full array of dining options, an on-site health club and spa, an entertainment and dancing plaza, a children’s entertainment center, a supermarket, an authentic Turkish food bazaar, and a 12-screen cinema.

The $250-million center is owned by Turkish-based companies Orjin Group and Dogus Group. Baltimore-based Development Design Group (DDG) served as the design architects for Istinye, while lighting was designed by Grenald Waldron Associates (GWA), Narberth, Pa.

According to William Kader, GWA’s project manager and lighting designer, illumination for Istinye Park is “elegant and timeless, a strong visual presence in Istanbul’s cosmopolitan environment.” The lighting program closely follows the established local energy-use guidelines, while simultaneously creating a sophisticated environment, Kader adds.

Vaulted glass ceiling skylights span the width of the three-level enclosed Fashion Zone Mall area of the center, allowing natural lighting in during the day. Cove-mounted fluorescent lamps rated at 3,500˚K and with an 85 color rendering index (CRI) are used here and throughout the mall to uplight the point where the ceiling meets the side walls. “Without the cove lights, there would just be a dark shadow that would reduce the impact and grandeur of the vault,” Kader says.

The contrasting solid rim extends across the tops of the storefronts. Kader attached wall-mounted ceramic metal halide asymmetric uplights carrying ratings of 3,000˚K and 85 CRI along its length. “These luminaires visually unify the shopping level with the overhead vault and illuminate the walkway,” he observes.

For the lower-level shopping concourse, a system of criss-cross ceiling monopoint halogen decorative light points are powered by a step-down transformer.

Istinye Park’s centerpiece and entertainment hub is the four-level, 328-ft.-diameter Grand Rotunda. A vertically moving stage has its own GWA-designed theatrical lighting system, as well as water features with animated music and lights. Dozens of shiny reflective balls suspend from the scalloped and segmented shell roof structure on wires of varying lengths. Wall-mounted 3,000˚K, 85 CRI ceramic metal halide lamps contained in indirect decorative sconces accentuate the architectural columns on each of the space’s surrounding three levels. Additional accent light is provided by grid-mounted, high-wattage metal halide adjustable framing projectors.

With a plethora of new brands debuting in Turkey for the first time, Istinye Park pays them tribute with a dramatic lighting scheme sure to spark the senses.