WE-EF ILLUMINATES WAT PHRA KAEW

Thailand’s most sacred Buddhist temple, Wat Phra Kaew – built during the reign of Rama I in 1782 – stands out as one of Asia’s most recognised landmarks, receiving more than 16 million visitors every year. Little wonder, then, that its night-time appearance is expected to be as spectacular as its presence during daylight.

The challenge to plan, design and install a completely new lighting scheme was therefore gladly accepted by PSJ Consultant, with the support of WE-EF LIGHTING. With its head office based in Germany, WE-EF’s presence in Thailand dates back 35 years. The same types of projectors and floodlights that are used, for example, to illuminate the Sydney Opera House, Gardens by the Bay in Singapore and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, were selected for Wat Phra Kaew (also commonly known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha). As with every high-profile, international lighting project, numerous night-time mock-up trials were needed to verify the original CAD designs as well as fine-tune and optimise them, in order to create spectacular views from close range and afar.

With the Phra Sriratana Chedi, at a height of 26m and the tallest structure in the entire Wat Phra Kaew complex, zoning restrictions in this part of Bangkok require surrounding buildings not to exceed 16m in height. The delicate religious, cultural and architectural features of the chedi as well as the many pagodas, pavilions, statues and towers required selective yet subtle highlighting, only achievable with high-precision lighting tools. It was therefore an easy decision to select WE-EF’s FLC100 and FLC200 series projectors, with their proven IOS® (Innovative Optical System) optics. Medium [M] and very narrow [EE] light distributions were used, often in combination with dedicated optical accessories such as spread lenses and glare shields. The final result speaks for itself.