Fourteen red SMD-LEDs are installed on each of these circuit boards, which function as light sources for the 70 recessed spotlights on this building. The spots in turn enliven the façade during the dark hours of the day.

Photo: Jörg Hütter, Solingen, for Insta Elektro GmbH

The current re-design of the Port of Düsseldorf is one of the most exciting contemporary architectural projects. Courageous urban designers have enabled internationally prominent architects to create attractive – and in many cases provocative – buildings. These new solutions required just as courageous, attractive, and provocative innovations in building technology. One salient example of these creations is the Colorium just finished in spring of 2002: an office building with an intensively colourful façade design that formally calls the works of Piet Mondrian to mind.

After dark, the upper edge of the building emits orange light far beyond the harbour area. The extraordinary optical effects of the façade are highlighted by the use of 70 recessed spotlights. These recessed LED spots, built in flush to the metal façade of the stairwell, are provided with a switched-mode power supply. These spotlights are linked to the light-control system for the entire building and are activated via a photo-electric lighting controller that functions according to ambient daylight lighting levels.