Draakplaats, Antwerpen

A rainbow of light for tolerance and acceptance

The restoration of the historic railway arcades at Draakplaats in the Antwerp district of Zurenborg took several years.  Now they shine again at night in the colours of the rainbow. The light installation symbolises an open and tolerant society – with even more intensive colours and reduced energy consumption, thanks to lighting technology from WE-EF.

There are big plans for the city of Antwerp – the city's entire public lighting will be switched to energy-efficient  LED technology by 2030. This not only applies to streets and paths, but also to buildings and monuments that  are still illuminated with conventional light sources – as was the case with the rainbow illumination of the railway  arcades at Draakplaats. In the evenings and at night, a work of light art illuminates the three central arches of the  railway bridge in the colours of the rainbow – an initiative of the "Pink House" at Draakplaats. This non-profit organisation has supported the interests of the LGBTQIA+ community in Antwerp for many years. A state-of-the-art  LED light solution was chosen to reduce electricity consumption and increase the intensity of the colours.

Inground luminaires with customised colour

The arcades consist of five arches that allow pedestrians, vehicles and a tram line to conveniently cross under the Antwerp ring road at this point. The outer two arches are illuminated in warm white,  the middle three in the colours of the rainbow. The planners specified individualised luminaires with  monochrome LED modules, rather than RGBW colour mixing technology, for high efficiency and particularly rich colours. The Belgian WE-EF distributor Axioma suggested modifying WE-EF type ETC140-GB  inground luminaires accordingly. Now each side of the arch features a row of four of these single-colour  inground luminaires, which evenly illuminate the roof area with wide beam optics. The principals are very  pleased with the result: "The replacement lighting is not only good for the environment; the historic arches are  now shown off to even better effect", noted Claude Marinower, the city councillor responsible for the project,  when commenting on the result in the press.

Project data

Principal:          City of Antwerp Completion:      2021 Photos:            ID/ Patrick De Roo