Light installation by Preciosa Lighting completes the space of the world's best airport

Czech glass leader Preciosa Lighting is among the selected contractors for the Terminal 1 renovation project at Singapore's Changi Airport, which is an eleven-time winner of the Skytrax World's Best Airports ranking. For the refurbished space, they created a unique dynamic light installation, Garden Metamorphosis. Here, the installation naturally integrates into a gallery of innovative design and artistic realisations. At Changi Airport, a world-famous entertainment centre, a light object made of Czech crystal now makes the waiting time more pleasant for millions of passengers.

Garden full of light

It was clear to the team at Preciosa Lighting right from the start that the installation for this location had to be exceptional in every way. It tells a story that takes place in a tropical garden that connects the interior of the airport itself with the streets of Singapore as a green and blooming city full of life.

The artistically crafted luminaire called Garden Metamorphosis is an original light installation combining unique compositions with shapes and patterns created by nature itself. The organic concept of the individual elements captures the attention and stimulates the imagination. "Garden Metamorphosis captures the moments of the evolution of life in the garden, its dynamics and fluidity, exactly the kind of transformations that normally take place in nature," says Anna Králová, designer of the project at Preciosa Lighting. "In our concept, the leaves turn into butterflies and visually merge together. Just like in reality - when a butterfly perches on a flower or leaf, it completely blends in."

Brightness and sparkle in an unusual form

The dimensions of the light installation are impressive. It is more than 10 metres long and 9 metres wide. It consists of 650 crystal components that represent small and large butterflies, plant leaves and also double petals. Each of the components is an original made by Czech glassmakers in Kamenický Šenov. The metal base is made of polished brass in champagne colour and has a warm and welcoming look. The colour of the components varies from clear crystal, to sandblasted, champagne, light pink, pink, to light and dark chandelier.

Advanced technology and safety requirements

The experts from Preciosa Lighting's development department faced several difficult challenges when designing this installation. The first was the advanced programming of the dynamic scenes, and the others were based on the specific security regulations for the building spaces in the Changi Airport area. The Garden Metamorphosis installation was created to meet the requirements for maximum resistance to shock and vibration caused by flight operations.

"Above all, we were trying to figure out how to imaginatively animate and light up the individual butterflies," explains Ondřej Dörfl, chief electrical designer. "The composition and design of the luminaire work with a concept that corresponds to real life in the garden. A butterfly flies out of a crystal tree, settles down and charms the surroundings with its shimmer, even catches the eye by lighting up and then gradually extinguishing its light... I believe we have succeeded in achieving exactly this goal and have created an installation that has a story and a soul."

To meet the requirements for stability and strength, the team devised a solution to effectively but unobtrusively attach the crystal leaves to the metal arms representing the branches of the tree.

The architectural designs, including the interior design, were the work of architects from RSP Architects Planners & Engineers in Singapore Preciosa Lighting worked with the airport's main contractor, which was local company Takenaka. Interestingly, a representative office of the Czech glass chandelier manufacturer from Kamenický Šenov has been operating in this city-state in Southeast Asia for 20 years.