As part of a new initiative from the National Galleries of Scotland, Venture Lighting has supplied its Metal Halide lamps for use in specially designed luminaires from Sugg Lighting, surrounding both the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Building and the National Gallery of Scotland.The Playfair Project, which received its name from architect William Henry Playfair, who designed the buildings in the early 1800s, involved the creation of additional educational facilities in a subterranean 'link' building, which connects with the RSA Building and the National Gallery. Existing lighting around the RSA Building was also reinstated after many decades as part of the project.
Services for the project were designed by consulting engineers SVM (Glasgow and London offices). An important element of the brief was to enhance the night-time appearance of the buildings with a high quality white light, while also ensuring long lamp life to minimise life cycle costs.
This was achieved by with modern replicas using Venture's Metal Halide lamps. The luminaires, which were specially manufactured by Sugg Lighting to match the original design (1830s gas luminaires), are mounted on cast iron columns at the perimeter of both buildings and in the new pedestrianised area, known as 'The Mound Precinct'. Lighting is linked to photocells providing dusk to dawn switching.
