Pharos Architectural Controls and GVA Lighting have combined forces to light up the lasting legacy of the iconic Harrods building in London.
Harrods is a world-renowned department store located in the upscale London district of Knightsbridge, famed for its luxurious retail offerings and stunning architectural displays. Opened in 1849, the iconic Harrods building is a glowing example of late-Victorian architecture, featuring a sophisticated terracotta façade and baroque detailing. Now a crucial London landmark, Harrods draws visitors from all over the world to see it in all its glory.
When it came to lighting, Harrods was ahead of the curve in the early 20th century as a pioneer of the use of electrical façade illumination. This innovation set a new standard for architectural lighting and plays a pivotal role in the Harrods identity. For the upgraded Harrods façade, GVA specified a number of products from lighting controls specialist Pharos Architectural Controls, which included a 50-universe Designer LPC X (Lighting Playback Controller X), the Designer TPS (Touch Panel Station), the Designer EDN 20 (Ethernet Data Node 20), and the Designer PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) switch, all connected to Pharos Cloud.
Drawing on Harrods’ core values for the updated lighting plan, the design team chose to retain the store’s iconic festoon lighting. The new system now supports colour-changing fixtures that shift subtly from warm white to cool white each evening, while also adopting bespoke colours for special events and celebrations, turning Harrods into a glowing landmark on London’s skyline.
The festoon lighting is enhanced by a new layer of architectural lighting achieved through a range of GVA supplied fixtures, including Highlighter, FL, STR9, and LIRA. These work together to provide cove lighting, façade washing, and wall grazing to beautifully accentuate the building’s elaborate ornamentation and terracotta detailing.
To work in harmony with the fixtures, GVA specified the Designer LPC X, an all-in-one control solution for themed entertainment and LED lighting installations. This features individually controllable and independently running timelines and scenes that allow you to build dynamic, precise, fully customisable pre-programmed lighting effects with the freedom of real-time manual overrides and the versatility of powerful show control and integration features. The LPC X offers an extreme level of power and integration, making it an ideal lighting control solution for architectural and landmark lighting installations such as the Harrods façade, requiring significant channel counts.
The Designer TPS, available in 5 and 8-inch sizes, is an elegant interface with a customisable, capacitive touchscreen, compatible with any Pharos Designer controller. This technology allows you to create multiple pages of lighting controls including buttons, sliders, keypads and colour pickers, and configure their appearance and visual feedback for the facility team to select scenes on the fly and to override colour and intensity as required.
The Designer EDN is a convenient and scalable solution, providing cost-effective Ethernet-distributed DMX ports for large control projects, and the Designer PoE provides a simple power and networking solution for four Power-over-Ethernet devices with two separate Ethernet uplink ports.
The award-winning Pharos Cloud provides simple, secure remote lighting installation control and management, from any Internet-connected device, at anytime, anywhere in the world allowing the client additional remote access and GVA to receive system status updates and to offer immediate and ongoing support to this prestigious customer.
Ryan Sainsbury, Regional Sales Manager for UK, Ireland, N. Europe & Benelux at Pharos Architectural Controls, said: “We were thrilled to work alongside GVA to seamlessly integrate smart control technology into the historic landmark of Harrods, ensuring that the building remains as iconic and innovative today as it did when it first opened.”
The exterior of Harrods is stunningly illuminated in a golden glow, drawing the eye to its iconic sign and the detailed architectural ornamentation. At night, the store becomes an unmissable beacon of luxury, commanding attention and standing out brilliantly along the street.
Project Credits
Client: Harrods
Lighting Manufacturer: GVA Lighting
Lighting Controls: Pharos Architectural Controls
Lighting Designer: L’Observatoire International
Main Contractor: Restore London
Construction Consultancy: Kendall Kingscott
Electrical Consultant: Collina MEP Design
Electrical Sub-contractor: AM electrics
Photography: GVA Lighting
