Old Parliament House at dusk showing off the facade lighting design created by WSP.
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Old Parliament House

This project involved extensive upgrades to the lighting throughout this historically significant building, including a large portion of the interior of the building and a new façade lighting system.

Location

  • Canberra, Australia

Client

  • WSP Client: Manteena. End client: Museum of Australian Democracy Old Parliament House

Project Value

  • Approximately AUD1 million for lighting upgrades

Project Status

  • Completed 2021

The interior lighting design included refurbishment to a number of high heritage value pendant luminaires in Kings Hall, the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Members’ Dining Room. The Kings Hall pendants are architect-designed, bespoke plaster pendants from the 1920s that have great heritage value. They required careful lighting design and a light touch. The lighting design improved the quality of light in each space while conserving the heritage value of the existing luminaires.

 

WSP’s Specialist Lighting Team also upgraded the lighting for the Senate and House of Representatives corridors, the President of the Senate suite and the Prime Minister and Cabinet rooms.

 

The brief for the facade lighting upgrade was to design an all-new façade lighting installation, which would provide white light in the standard setting, as well as the ability to have coloured light scenes for special occasions.

 

The lighting had to be designed to provide a visually stunning and architecturally appropriate lighting scheme while avoiding impact to the heritage-protected building fabric, minimising visual clutter in front of the building, and shadowing from trees and shrubs.

 

The project was a successful collaboration between WSP’s design team, lighting suppliers and the contractor team. The results speak for themselves.

The façade lighting upgrade reduces light pollution and energy usage by dimming to a low level late at night.
The Old Parliament House façade lighting system is full colour-changing.
WSP's lighting design team refurbished Kings Hall's original 1920’s plaster pendant lights with high-quality, colour changing LED light sources.

High colour rendering light sources and a programmable lighting control system helped to restore the lighting to the Chambers to be both beautiful and functional spaces.

The Chambers were installed with high colour rendering light sources and a programmable lighting control system.
WSP's Lighting Design team upgraded the grand pendants in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers.

Our upgrade of the grand pendants in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers created a stunning lighting effect, with high quality LED light sources giving a homogeneous lit appearance to the pendants, and bringing these impressive rooms back to life.

Other challenges that we have overcome