VEF Culture Palace, Riga

All projectsVEF Culture Palace, Riga

VEF Culture Palace, Riga

Latvia

After a major restoration, the Palace of Culture of Riga has recently reopened its doors celebrating its new architectural and organizational layout with a series of cultural events. Various concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, guided tours, and performances organized by the Palace of Culture teams provided the many visitors with the opportunity to explore the renovated premises, as well as to evaluate the modernized acoustics and equipment of the major Latvian concert hall.

VEF Culture Palace is one of the most interesting venues in uptown Riga. The massive building was erected in 1960 and since then it has hosted many cultural events, international meetings, congresses and art exhibitions, as well as performances of well-known foreign artists and local theatre companies. The traditional grand hall offers more than 800 seats, while the chamber hall provides convenient seating for 200-250 guests. Several smaller premises are also available beside the majestic two-storey foyer, which is often set up for standing receptions and other events.

Named after the State Electrical Engineering Factory (VEF - Valsts Elektrotehniskā Fabrika), one of the biggest companies in the country until the late 20th century, in the ‘60s the building was awarded as Cultural and Technical Museum as all the latest technological advances used to be presented and exhibited in this location.

Year

2018

Lighting design

LUCIDUS SIA, Riga

Product specification and installation

LUCIDUS SIA, Riga

Lighting designer

Andrejs Kalašņikovs

Pictures

Edijs Palens

As part of this recent comprehensive renovation programme, a new LED lighting system has been installed at the VEF palace by the Lavian company LUCIDUS SIA to enhance its exterior and interior architectural structure with a smart combination of warm and cold white light. Fitted with a compact body and mounting bracket for an easy installation, the chosen linear modules of the PARADE D-W-12 MK3 series offer the utmost lighting design compatibility and maximum mounting comfort. A warm white accent was preferred by the appointed Lighting Designer Andrejs Kalašņikovs to light up the columned side and front porches of the building, while a nice shade of cool white was chosen to highlight the rest of the outside walls. This simple but effective lighting scheme, just alternating warm and cold white shades in a skillful way, is capable of reaching a breathtaking final result.

As for the interior lighting of the amazing foyer, an array of PARADE D-W-12 MK3 in warm white configuration has been installed along the perimeter of the ceiling in order to deliver a functional and decorative illumination to this beautiful area, often used to host exhibitions and standing receptions. The chosen warm white shade discretely enhances the majestic green marble columns that frame the foyer with elegance, boosting the allure of this stylish venue while delivering a remarkable functional illumination.

A superlative solution for architectural lighting decoration, the technologically advanced PARADE D-W-12 MK3 linear modules feature 12 powerful bright white light LED sources. Available both in warm and cold white light, these highly versatile modular bars, coming with a choice of different beam angle options, are now capable of offering a further improved light emission performance. Their compact outline features a robust and durable extruded aluminium housing for the widest variety of applications such as accent, display, effect and landscape lighting.