Illuminating cultural diversity

The Museum of World Cultures (Museu de Cultures del Món) in Barcelona presents outstanding works from around the world in medieval Catalan buildings. It serves as a platform of preservation and presentation of artistic heritage and knowledge of cultures from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania.

Located on Carrer de Montcada, a street known for its beautiful historic buildings, the museum is set in the Casa Nadal and Casa Marquès de Llió, two medieval Catalan houses with a history that extends far back through the centuries. Extensive restoration and renovation was required to convert these two houses to their current use, which involved joining the two separate buildings into one.

The lighting design was executed by Antonio Sainz from Haz Luz 17 and his main challenge was to illuminate the historic buildings and artefacts in such a way that architecture and art both came into their own without competing with each other.

This was made possible using the ERCO Optec and Pollux lighting tools, which feature specially developed photometric systems that enable the luminaires to be adjusted precisely for optimum beam alignment.

As an added consideration, the exhibits needed to be presented so as to allow the observer to lose themselves in their own contemplation.

ERCO LED technology renders objects in brilliant colours to bring out every nuanced hue and, importantly, it satisfies the stringent conservational criteria applied to precious historic artefacts that are easily damaged by excessive exposure to light.

With a number of exhibits displayed in glass cabinets, the concept includes ambient and accent lighting from the outside to avoid disturbing reflections.

The cabinet temperature needs to remain constant for conservational purposes, making LED lighting tools the ideal solution thanks to heat dissipation via the rear of the luminaire.

Some of the taller cabinets were implemented with frosted glass covers to help guide the light for optimum visual comfort. When the directed light of a spotlight penetrates the semitransparent material, it creates diffuse ambient lighting with precision accents, creating a uniquely expressive illumination.

Image credit: © ERCO GmbH, www.erco.com, photo: Sebastian Mayer