Cathedral of Santa María in Vitoria

One luminaire, two functions.

Movement is the way to understand the Cathedral of Santa María. The main nave, chapels, intermediate levels, passageways and vaults make up an architectural site whose visual perception relies on the succession of spaces and points of view.

The restoration process has turned this premise into a public experience. Visitors not only go into the building, they also discover its layers of history and the layout that holds it up. The building, seriously affected by damage that compromised its stability, was consolidated so that it could become entirely open to visitors, where the heritage features sit side-by-side with its religious use.
 

Against this background, emergency lighting had to be able to respond to architecture in a highly complex space without limiting itself to a purely technical solution.

The lighting was dealt with using an ad hoc design that makes the most of the characteristics of the LENS luminaire – particularly its circular shape – to bring to the fore a rounded solution that blended in with the building’s structural columns.

Its design reflects a twofold logic: in normal conditions it acts as ambient lighting and showcasing the space, whilst in an emergency situation it ensures that it meets the technical functionalities required. The fixture’s optics also contributes to highlighting the ensemble’s architectural relief and spatial perception.

In the area around the tower’s doorway, alongside one of the old clocks that was working in the cathedral, the LINEAR luminaire, specifically designed for electrified tracks, sits side-by-side with the exposed beams, in order to seek to match up with the architecture as much as possible without detracting from how it is perceived.