The Union Church

The Union Church was founded in 1886, located closely to the Bund in Shanghai. It was once destroyed because of the fire in 2007 and rebuilt in the next two years. It hasn't been properly reused for many years until 2021, and it will be transformed into a music performance space. The aim of lighting design is to create a ‘small and beautiful’ spiritual space meeting the need of performing.



Firstly, the functional light is used to create a uniform and comfortable lighting environment and meet the needs of the stage lighting at the same time. Union Church Management Department put forward a very strict protection requirement, no damage to walls. Under the restriction, the design team almost re-create a new truss structure inside of the space. Based on the new structure, the lighting fixtures are suspended installed, leaving no nail hole in the wall. It can not only meet the functional lighting needs, but also accurately project light to the stage.



Secondly, the main pendant light is a ‘creative highlight’, combining both the lighting and acoustic requirements. It is fitted with recessed lights and decorative candle-shaped lights and can match well with the architectural style. Also, the pendant light provides sufficient functional light and stage light for the performance area. What is more, because of the needs of spatial reverberation, we worked with acoustic consultant and creatively embedded thick acrylic panels on the pendant light to meet the needs of the reflection sound to the stage.



Finally, the vertical lighting is designed to shape the space volume. In-ground recessed wall washers with narrow beam angle (15°) are used to well express the wall texture and the Gothic arch. It could get a high brightness perception in visitors’ vision.