Old Parliament House at dusk showing natural white baseline illumination from WE-EF FLC200-CC and VLR100-CC LED luminaires, stripped classical architecture with characteristic arched entrance, columned portico, and symmetrical facade designed by John Smith Murdoch as provisional Federal Parliament 1927, now National Heritage-listed Museum of Australian Democracy, dramatic storm clouds overhead, energy-efficient color-changing system designed by WSP replacing inefficient halogen floodlights, supplied by Integral Lighting and built by Manteena contractor

Old Parliament House, Canberra

Seen in a new light

Old Parliament House was the home of Australia’s Federal Parliament from 1927 to 1988. Today, the building is listed on the National Heritage Register and is home to the Museum of Australian Democracy – a museum that tells the story of Australia’s democracy, including the history and heritage of the building. The House was recently given a new design element through the addition of dynamic colour-changing lighting, designed by WSP and supplied by WE-EF Sales Partner, Integral Lighting.

Old Parliament House showing dramatic cyan-turquoise to yellow color gradient across facade demonstrating DMX stage lighting technology allowing dynamic color progressions to sweep across building, WE-EF FLC200-CC and VLR100-CC luminaires replacing old halogen system that required manual color filter changes with efficient programmable LED solution, custom finish and DMX cable threading through heritage building's existing narrow copper conduits solved by WE-EF technical team persistence according to Integral Lighting managing director Alex Skaines

Old Parliament House Canberra front facade in deep blue lighting showing WE-EF color-changing luminaires providing uniform wallwashing across entire width of provisional parliament building designed to serve 50 years but actually hosting Federal Parliament from 1927-1988, combination of FLC200-CC projectors and VLR100-CC surface-mounted linear wallwashers suitable for outdoor architectural facade accentuation, DMX integration enabling programmed lighting scenarios for Museum of Australian Democracy

While the building is important because of the events that occurred there, it is also significant in terms of architectural value. The House was designed by John Smith Murdoch, the first Commonwealth Government architect. He was asked to design a provisional building that would serve as a parliament for 50 years. Murdoch worked with the stripped classical style, common in government buildings in the 1920s and 1930s. The exterior of the House is white, which provides the perfect canvas for projected light as it renders colour well. The new design features a combination of FLC200-CC and VLR100-CC luminaires from WE-EF to light the front façade of the building. “The main objective was to achieve uniform wallwashing in white while providing a colour changing solution,” said Alex Skaines, managing director of Integral Lighting. “The external walls of Old Parliament House are stark white, so any imperfections in the wallwashing lens optics showed. There was nowhere to hide,” he said.

Old Parliament House illuminated in vibrant magenta-purple demonstrating WE-EF FLC200-CC projector series color-changing capability with RGBW and RGBA variants, stark white stripped classical facade by John Smith Murdoch serving as perfect canvas for projected light rendering color exceptionally well, precision wallwash lens optics leaving no imperfections visible on exterior walls, completed 2020 after years waiting for technology capable of realizing owners' vision for dynamic architectural lighting on National Heritage Register building

Old Parliament House front facade bathed in saturated coral-red light from WE-EF FLC200-CC and VLR100-CC linear wallwasher luminaires demonstrating superior color rendering on white exterior walls, wide-beam medium and narrow-beam optical distributions providing uniform facade coverage without visible imperfections, DMX-controlled system enabling dynamic color-changing scenarios for Museum of Australian Democracy building that housed Federal Parliament 1927-1988, Australian flag visible flying from rooftop

The FLC200-CC is a colour changing projector series coming in RGBW and RGBA variants, with DMX interface and wide, medium or narrow beam distribution. The VLR100 linear lighting wallwasher series is a colour changing, surface mounted luminaire suitable for either indoor or outdoor applications for accentuating architectural facades and highlighting other vertical and horizontal surfaces.

Old Parliament House rooftop terrace showing dramatic multi-color dynamic lighting effects with green, red, yellow, and purple hues from WE-EF FLC200-CC RGBW and RGBA color-changing projectors with DMX interface allowing color-changing effects to run across building, demonstrating stage lighting-based technology that paints entire heritage building in light, overcoming heritage restrictions requiring custom thin DMX cable threaded through existing small copper conduits, designed by WSP with Integral Lighting managing installation

The owners of the House had known for some time what lighting effects they wanted for the building, but the technological capability only recently became available. According to Mr Skaines the WE-EF technology was competing against several other manufacturers. “It was the wallwash lens capability that secured the job in the end,” he said. The previous lighting system was an old halogen floodlight, which required the use of colour filters in order to change colour. The new design by WSP provided a much more dynamic, effective and efficient colour changing solution. “Integral Lighting assisted in the finessing of the lenses and luminaire locations,” Mr. Skaines explained.

The primary challenge of the project was the installation of the DMX communication with the luminaires. “DMX integration with the FLC200-CC projectors was the biggest challenge. The custom finish was also a major challenge. The WE-EF technical team helped overcome both of these issues simply by not giving up on finding a solution,” said Mr Skaines. According to Stefan Kisser from WE-EF, “normally, a standard fitting for DMX would have the lighting control signal sent by cable. Because Old Parliament House is a heritage building, the contractor was not able to add a new conduit to the building – so we only had the option of using the existing copper conduit, but it was too small for the DMX data cable.”

Old Parliament House Canberra at night showing stark white stripped classical architecture designed by first Commonwealth Government architect John Smith Murdoch in 1920s, WE-EF FLC200-CC color-changing projectors providing uniform white wallwash illumination as baseline for dynamic DMX-controlled color effects, National Heritage-listed building serving as Museum of Australian Democracy completed 2020, replacing old halogen floodlights with energy-efficient LED technology designed by WSP lighting designers Anthony Linard and Rachel Thomson

WE-EF explored the option of going wireless, but with another wireless DMX installation adjacent to Old Parliament House there were concerns about interference. “Eventually, we found a cable that was thick enough to meet the technical requirements but thin enough to pull through the old copper conduit. That enabled us to use the standard technology where the information about lighting control was transmitted by cable,” Mr Kisser explained. He noted that the advantage of the DMX technology is that it is based on stage lighting. “It’s designed for dynamic processes, so you can have colour changing effects running across the building…it allows you to paint the whole building in light,” said Mr Kisser. Mr Skaines said everyone involved in the project was very happy with the outcome. “There has been nothing but praise for the WE-EF product,” he said.

Credits

Completed: 2020 Client: Old Parliament House Sales Partner: Integral Lighting Lighting Design: WSP – Anthony Linard & Rachel Thomson Builder: Manteena Photography: Jackie Chan

Loading related products...