The Westville Pavilion shopping center, the biggest on the East Coast of Africa, was recently the beneficiary of an $18 million upgrade, which enlarged the already impressive 75, 000 m2 to 100 000 m2. Already Kwa-Zulu Natal’s most popular commercial area with one million people passing through its doors each month, the extended Pavilion now adds even greater appeal to the shopping experience.

The new additions boast some 225 shops, which makes it one of the largest regional commercial centers in South Africa.

Plans to enhance exterior facade

With plans in place to upgrade the Pavilion, electrical consulting engineers Berriman Associated Engineering (BAE) approached a team of creative people from Architects Bentel Abramson, Centre Manager Savvas Koutoufides and the Center’s marketing department to finalize a strategy for enhancing the exterior of the center.

The client, Pareto, who also own a string of other malls, required a way to draw the public to the rear of the center and expose this previously unseen side of the building.

Chris Lawrence, the Development Project Manager, together with Bentel Abramson Architects and BAE, explored many options in their quest for the perfect solution to this challenge.  They finally settled on a proposal assembled by Electrosonic KZN’s Gerrie Coetzee. The concept had been neatly demonstrated to them live on site with a Martin Exterior 600. Lighting design was by Colin Berriman from BAE & Associates, in conjunction with Gerrie Coetzee.

Exterior 600s, MAC 2000s provide color and gobo projection

The north-eastern corner of the center is illuminated with a combination of static and moving light fixtures. No less than 16 Martin Exterior 600 CMY luminaries are used in conjunction with 5 MAC 2000 Profiles, both chosen for their immense flexibility. The Exterior 600s create constantly changing washes of color across 7000 square meters of wall space, while the MAC 2000s project patterns and gobos. The ability to project corporate logos for little outlay opens this form of advertising up to many of the smaller players.

As the clock strikes 6 each evening, a pre-programmed sequence of events begins, as the lamps strike up and the units pre-position their color and gobo effects. Without warning showers of bright white light wash over the walls, transforming the lifeless steel and concrete into a spectacle of color and movement.

The program detonates an hourly salvo of lighting effects that sets the building ablaze. All of this is brought to life using Martin’s LightJockey computer-based control package with LJ Scheduler that offers unparalleled simplicity and ease of programming.

The Martin Exterior 600s are IP 65 rated and their extruded aluminum housing assists convection cooling, making them suitable appliances for any weather conditions. Their CMY color system allows unlimited choice of coloring with smooth, slow cross fades and lightning fast color snaps.

The MAC 2000s with their 1,200-watt lamp source are housed in Martin’s weatherproof MAC Domes to protect them from the elements. These were the first MAC 2000s to be installed in South Africa only weeks after their release, testimony to the cutting-edge nature of the project.

Lighting display gets noticed

The Marketing Consultant for the Pavilion, Garnet Currie, had this to say when asked about the success of the lighting installation.  “The external lighting system added another dimension to the Pavilion.  The center is ideally placed alongside the busy N3 highway and the lighting display each night on the northeast corner of the building generates immeasurable exposure.

“The bright colors and roving logos easily attract the attention of both the west and eastbound traffic on the N3.”

Feedback from shoppers has without exception been favorable.  Many have reported how the display had attracted their attention and how it added excitement to the Pavilion as a whole.  The display has also appealed to many tenants who are interested in their store logos being included in the lighting display.

In answer to the question of whether they had achieved their objective, Berriman said, “ It will take roughly a year to see the true result of its success.  We look forward to more such products from Martin, and for bigger and better installations in the future and that the technology will become more affordable.”