New lighting design to the Grade I Listed Victorian Gothic interior architecture. Space Copenhagen has created a beautiful contemporary setting within this iconic venue in the heart of London.

The hotel lobby occupies now what used to be the canopied and cobbled entrance to the original St Pancras Station, which dates to 1873. The two flanking walls of the lobby and canopy retain most of the original detailing from George Gilbert Scott's design.

As with any Grade I listed buildings, no major interventions or alterations of the building fabric are allowed, when it comes to lighting integration.

Space Copenhagen was appointed to redesign the central lobby space and the reception area, which comprised mainly loose FF&E and soft furnishings.

The new lighting design had to address the two Victorian gothic walls that surround the lobby, as well as the new lounge below the canopy.

A system of discreet spotlights was carefully integrated into the glass and iron canopy, with all the transformers remotely located towards the far ends, in order to avoid visual clutter above. These spots provide soft accent to the tables and furniture in the lounge and reception area. Other spots provide soft illumination to the beautiful water pipes that come down from the iron structure, as well as gentle accenting to the intricate carved stone surfaces above the door lintels and window arches.

The walls had previously fitted with old technology to illuminate the reveals, which was substituted with new white-tuneable linear LEDs with wall grazing optics. New spotlights and surface mounted uplights were also mounted carefully and discreetly onto the arch details.

The vast amounts of daylight in the space called for a lighting a flexible lighting system that responded to the quality and quantity of natural light throughout the day. At dusk the lighting starts to slowly change from 2700K to 2400K and down to 2200K during the late-night scenes. As a result, the most dramatic views of the Victorian Gothic walls happen after sunset, when the natural light from the canopy fades away and the walls ‘become alive’ with lighting.

In addition to the architectural lighting, a new elegant and simple version of an old fashion street lantern was designed by Space Copenhagen and Light IQ, to recreate the illusion of a streetscape of Victorian times. The lanterns gently flank the two walls of the lobby and the dim-to-warm light sources contribute to the overall warm feeling after dark.