This project focuses on the public and outdoor spaces of Pairi Daiza's second resort, "La Terre du Froid". The challenge was to meet the lighting requirements for areas open to the public (circulation, access to rooms, safety, visual comfort, etc.) while keeping in line with the theme of the scenography, which is that of a Nordic village set in a natural setting, before electricity.
To resolve this contradiction, we defined a strong lighting principle that could be applied to most situations: lighting the village areas in a candlelight atmosphere and the natural outdoor areas by imitating moonlight. In both cases, we reduced the light levels as much as possible to achieve convincing atmospheres.
The village and caves are lit by LED modules that flicker like a candle flame, integrated into bespoke wooden lanterns and mining lamps. This effect is completed by small recessed and concealed spotlights, which provide subtle accents of very warm light, continuing the illusion of candlelight.
To accentuate the contrast with the village, the tiger forest is lit by small projectors mounted at 15m high in the trees, creating pools of cold light on the ground, simulating the light of the moon passing through the foliage. On the other side, in the pools and on the ice cliffs, low-angled side lighting, mixing cold white with a little blue and cyan, transforms the whole set into a frozen ice. This cold atmosphere is also found in the icy parts of the caves that face the pools through the impressive underwater windows, while the other parts of the caves are lit by the very warm and subtle atmosphere of candlelight.
The lighting of the penguin’s cave is based on these two main ambiences, but also requires a large amount of artificial light during the day to supplement the insufficient natural light coming from the roof. These lighting principles are then combined at the end of the day to mimic the natural biological cycle, simulating a long sunset entering the cave through lateral cracks, providing as much well-being as possible for these Antarctic birds while creating an interesting and attractive lighting scheme for the public at different times of their stay.
