The Torino Porta Nuova railway station dates back to 1861, the year in which work was begun under the direction of Engineer Alessandro Mazzucchetti. The building’s design combined strict functionality with a monumental style that matched the architecture of the other buildings overlooking Piazza Carlo Felice. In 1911 the station was extended to cater for the numerous visitors to the city’s World Fair. Further extensions were made in 1940 and 1951, the year in which the central gallery was built - an impressive load-bearing structure that is 30 metres wide and 150 metres long. Today, Torino Porta Nuova is the third largest station in Italy. It stands in a strategic position and has therefore become the city’s main public transport hub. It is also one of the Italian stations in the nationwide “Grandi Stazioni” refurbishment project that has been implemented here in several stages and was completed in 2016 with a new lighting system. The renovation, designed by the architect, Marco Tamino, cleaned and restored the existing station environments to enhance their floors, windows, plaster renderings and architectural details. The areas destined for travel services, such as catering, shopping and free time were also significantly extended. The pedestrian walkways, car parks, and waiting areas for the various kinds of public transport that enter the station hub were also totally restyled to rationalise the entire transport access system.
The portico overlooking via Sacchi was pedestrianised and thanks to the construction of transparent glass walls, it has become an area of great architectural quality that houses retail outlets open to both travellers and local inhabitants. The new facade lighting system, designed by Grandi Stazioni in compliance with Heritage Office specifications, illuminates the building like a monument by highlighting its details and main features in a way that recalls the station’s daytime beauty.
The horizontal lines of the facade are highlighted by Underscore InOut and Linealuce Compact luminaires, while certain details, like the medallions on the balustrade that runs along the top of the building and the shells at the level of the large central skylight are lit by Trick and Glimcube luminaires. Particular care was taken over the lighting in the portico that features the red of the facade and alternates flat and domed ceiling sections, whose depth is accentuated by Underscore InOut and iPro projectors.
The arches of the portico are highlighted by Linealuce Compact luminaires positioned above the capitals of the quadrangular pillars. Once again, in line with the instructions provided by the Heritage Office, the lighting is operated by a control system that can create coloured scenarios that are used only on special occasions, like the Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day) where white, red and green colours are used or St. John the Baptist Day as he is the city’s patron saint.
The station’s lighting concept also complies with current legislation regarding the reduction of light pollution, thanks to high precision optics that focus the light created on the points to be illuminated, thus avoiding any undesired dispersion. Another aspect taken into consideration was energy saving, which was achieved by using DALI driver LED luminaires enhanced by a KNX control system that when used to the full earned this project a special commendation at the KNX 2016 Italia awards (VIth edition).
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