Senate Square street lights

The city of Helsinki arranged a design competition in 2018 for the replacement of the Senate Square street lights in downtown Helsinki. The current street lights were on their fifth evolution cycle on the historically valuable and central location of Helsinki. The competition entries were to be suitable for the historical environment and they should meet today's technological requirements.

Due to the empire style surrounding buildings and the pedigree of rather decorative street lights on the Senate Square, our team approached the design task by continuing the historical style with a contemporary touch. The two-way hanging luminaires were a source of inspiration for the proposal. Our team wanted the solution be slender but still meet the structural requirements. The design should be modern but with resemblances of decorative details for the historical continuity. Unfortunately our proposition did not succeed in the competition.

The street lights were required to have a specific lighting power for downlights and two different projector luminaire types for façade lighting. Instead of somehow trying to integrate the projectors into the shaft, we decided to leave them be on the outside surface, but the same colour as the poles. The downlights were changed to a different model with more personality, warmth and historical resemblance fitting the overall design and the square. Our lighting experts calculated the lighting levels to meet the demands.