Over 500 Chiaro fittings from Zumtobel Lighting are installed at the Liver Street Car Park, Liverpool to provide a safe and secure facility combined with a sense of quality, architectural appreciation and environmental control not normally associated with a multi-storey car park. The car park itself is part of the £920 million Paradise Street retail, leisure and residential development and provides a strong visual statement, featuring external ramps and facades adorned with aluminium louvres. Designed by Wilkinson Eyre in conjunction with car park operator Q-Park, the lighting design was undertaken by Arup Associates.
With a brief to support the "flagship" design by providing the highest possible standard of lighting for safe and secure vehicle parking and pedestrian comfort, Chiaro fittings were adopted in all areas. Achieving a 100 lux average horizontal surface level illumination (instead of the recommended value of 75 lux called for by BS 5849 and CIBSE), provides increased perceptions of security and reduced personal apprehension for users of the car park which is open 24-hours.
Good lighting uniformity further enhances pedestrian safety when using access aisles, walking between cars and stairways or elevators. The translucent Chiaro housing also allows a high degree of indirect illuminance providing excellent vertical illuminance at egress control barriers, intercom call points, CCTV cameras, and payment machines, and by carefully positioning all the luminaires the potential shadowing effect from columns and beams is eliminated.
Good colour rendering was another key factor in improving security by aiding recognition of pedestrian faces and vehicle license plates for CCTV surveillance. To aid this "white light" lamps were selected.
The design team also paid particular attention to entrances and exits and the uncovered driving ramps on each level where a transition zone is illuminated to 300 lux Eh during daylight hours. This aids driving conditions when entering the car park from full daylight into a relatively low interior luminance.
Combining a robust design in housing that appears to float, Chiaro luminaires are ideal for the covered car park environment. The transparent housing and diffuser enable a proportion of light to be efficiently radiated across the concrete ceiling and floor slab – providing both direct and indirect lighting. The indirect lighting is particularly helpful in improving the visual awareness of the total space, and limiting the oppressive sensation normally experienced in a low soffit multi-storey car park. Additionally, as the housing and diffuser are made from the same polycarbonate material, the luminaire can expand and contract at the same rate without causing stress which may otherwise lead to an influx of moisture and dust. The housing is also highly impact resistant and fitted with specially designed stainless steel clips to provide a high degree of protection against vandalism.
Says John Waite, Associate of Arup Lighting: "The lighting scheme achieved the goal of the design team to provide a car park that would promote a positive sense of security and a feel good factor. Brightness of the space without glare enables the users to park vehicles easily without fear of accident and also generates an air of freedom within the space."
