GRAND PLACE
City of Brussels
The City of Brussels wished to promote its international role and its identity as the capital city by enhancing the magnificent architecture of the Grand Place which is an UNESCO world heritage site.
In 2007, they drew up a lighting plan in collaboration with Beliris to create a lively nocturnal ambiance by emphasising the façades on the square.
From the offset of the project, the city wanted a modern and flexible illumination system that would consume little energy and reduce maintenance operations.
This new lighting scheme, exclusively with LEDs, provides a gentle and precise white light to accentuate the architectural details of all the buildings and the intricate texture of the City Hall, while creating a homogenous light for the entire square.
During special events, a dynamic RGBW programme can create unlimited lighting effects. The technological solution provided by Schréder means that, without any additional equipment, the intensity and colour of each luminaire can be adapted independently thanks to a central control system (located in the City Hall).
In total, 1,650 individually managed Schréder LED floodlights have been installed on Grand Place.
This LED solution has also dramatically reduced energy savings by more than 80%! The energy used to illuminate the 27 buildings today is less than what was used to light 2 buildings previously with traditional light sources.
Freddy Thielemans, Mayor of the City of Brussels, explains “This new modern, efficient and economical lighting solution alllows us to enhance our UNESCO heritage at night, which is a real added-value for all of our visitors”.
In addition to the light, Beliris has also installed a new sound system for Grand Place. Thanks to an ingenious camouflage system, the loudspeakers installed on the roof are not visible from the square.
This meticulous and complex project which was inaugurated in November, was successfully conceived by the lighting design teams of Patrick Rimoux and Isabelle Corten and implemented by Fabricom for the light and Inytium for the sound.
The Schréder teams are very proud and happy to have contributed to this lighting scheme by proposing a global solution to the city.
