The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Hotel London

Owner: Mandarin Oriental Group

Architects for phase 1: Eric Parry and Associates

Lighting Design: Speirs and Major

Team: Marc Major, Christian Andersson, Claudia Clements

Formerly the Hyde Park Hotel, the Mandarin Oriental was acquired by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in 1996 for £86m. Four years and £45m of renovation later, it has re-opened as one of the ultimate luxury London hotels. Speirs and Major were involved in the façade lighting, all of the public areas, the ballroom and the Rosebery rooms. The challenge for Speirs and Major was to create a hi-tech lighting system within the constraints of an old building, limiting access for recessed fixtures, transformer locations, cable runs and the like. The client also specified an environmentally sound lighting system.

Following historical research, both architects and lighting designers devised a family of torchères, matching wall lights and pendants. Speirs and Major devised a system that allowed glass bowls to glow during the day using 3x18W (3500Kw) compact fluorescent lamps. These lamps also allow a small amount of diffuse indirect illumination to the decorative ceilings. At dusk, an additional 500W linear tungsten halogen lamp fixed into a reflector in the bowl begins to cross fade with the compact fluorescent, to boost indirect lighting and warm the atmosphere. Downlighting effects, such as wall washing behind the staff in the reception and accents on floral displays, seating areas and sculptures, were also included.

The front façade, overlooking Knightsbridge, ‘has been illuminated to optimise the character of the building, lighting all the architectural details, and giving it depth,’ says Speirs and Major director Marc Major. ‘It was achieved using as little energy as possible, with the 35 version of the CDEM lamp,’ he says. The side overlooking Hyde Park was only lit at ground level, deliberately leaving the back of the building to blend with the environment. ‘It shows that darkness is just as important as lighting,’ says Major.

see also “DW200011170052”