Now officially the tallest building on mainland China, the recently opened Shanghai World Financial Centre features advanced integrated lighting control and energy management systems from Dynalite .    

The integrated lighting control solutions delivered by Dynalite also met essential AV integration and energy management criteria for many of the building’s most prestigious areas, including four Observatory decks, 21 event spaces and the basement restaurant.    

Owned by Japanese developer, the Mori Group, the 492m-tall Shanghai World Financial Centre was recently named the ‘best tall building in the world’ for 2008 by the US Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. It boasts the highest public observatory in the world and the world’s highest hotel – the Park Hyatt Shanghai – plus numerous offices, restaurants, function venues and retail areas.    

According to Simon Richardson, Dynalite Area Manager – North Asia, the Shanghai World Financial Centre also incorporates innovative sustainable design concepts and energy-efficient practices. “A recent green memorandum released by the Chinese Government is enforcing energy management practices in all aspects of new developments,” he said. “As a result, energy management through lighting design and control was a significant focus of the lighting system design and installation.”    

Dynalite provided integrated lighting control systems for twelve of the 101 floors of the building. In total, 330 dimmed circuits were installed, using dual-ported Dynalite DLE1220 leading-edge controllers, and 80 relay-switched circuits utilising Dynalite DRC1220 relay controllers. Dynalite DWPE user panels were deployed throughout, and all components were linked via Dynalite’s sophisticated peer-to-peer communications serial bus network, DyNet. Further to the lighting installations, Dynalite also provided blind controls in the 174 rooms and suites of the Park Hyatt Hotel, using a combination of the Dynalite DDMC802 multipurpose and DDRC810DT blind controllers.    

Two of the event spaces now featuring Dynalite systems are the prestigious Forum and Sky Arena 94 venues. The Forum is now Asia’s leading venue for international events, and the 750-square-metre Sky Arena 94 is a conference area purpose-designed for new product launches. With an industrial-sized lift, it has been specifically targeted as a venue for new car promotion events. Situated on the 94th floor – 420m above the ground – Sky Arena 94 boasts 8m-high ceilings and tall windows either side, designed to maximise the sense of space and the outlook over the city’s vistas.    

According to Richardson, integration of audiovisual and DMX512-based theatrical lighting systems was an essential requirement of the installation for these event spaces. “The meeting facilities were designed to allow the lighting systems to seamlessly interface with AV controls provided by AV systems specialist, AMX,” he said. “Furthermore, to allow for theatrical lighting control in the event areas during special functions, DMX control interfaces were incorporated into the DLE1220 dimmer controllers.”    

This range and scope of control options, combined with Dynalite’s ability to easily interface with AMX and DMX where necessary, made all the difference on this project. “The flexibility in terms of the number and configuration of channels and the variable power loads of our controllers enabled the design-brief to be met exactly, without any waste,” said Richardson. “The simplicity of the Dynalite modular design ethos also means that additional requirements can be incorporated very easily as needed in the future.”