The True Vines

As the second oldest heritage building in Singapore, Chijmes is revamping the lawn area in correlation with modern restaurants and bars. Being surrounded by skyscrapers and national landmarks, Illuminating Asia was appointed as the lighting consultant to design the natural courtyard into a contemporary art space for visitors to chill out. The existing 8 heritage trees were a source of inspiration to establish “The True Vines”.

With the right ambiance, we sought to elevate the positive emotions within a person to achieve an immersive memorable experience for the visitors. The lighting design should also not be overbearing, as the diners enjoy the evening within the natural courtyard. By having the lighting effects and colors catering from dusk tonight, we created harmony between nature, the lights, and the space. The lighting aims to deliver an artistic, subtle, and natural transition of the space, matching the mood of visitors unwinding for the day. Besides being a statement of art, it remains as an installation that has to be applicable to permanent and seasonal occasions.

A key factor to our design concept lies in the lights blending with the tree's bodice as though it is a natural part of the tree. It would accentuate the trees’ natural shape when the lights are on. To illustrate the science and life within the trees, we created a visual lighting movement representing the pumping veins that are within the tree. The brightness and color programming of the LED strips aims for a seamless transition of the environment, complementing sunset to nighttime, resulting in a serene atmosphere with different moods. The LED Strips are made to ascend from the bottom roots level to the tree trunk and upwards to the branches in the same path as the trees’ natural growth to provide an aspect of realism in our lighting art form.

With the added capability that our lighting can react according to music, it offers both a controlled or automated random design permutation. From design, lights, environment, and music, we connect people and environment into a novel conceptualized space.