Articles

ON THE SQUARE 
By Michael Hardware

In 1826 an Act of Parliament approved the designs for a new square in the centre of London. The square was to be a celebration of the naval brilliance of the British Empire, a tribute to the British fighting spirit and a way of linking all the major routes across London. However, by the end of the twentieth century it had become a cluttered space, not much more than a traffic island, with little appeal to either Londoners or tourists.

Consequently, in 1986 the Government Office for London decided to redress the balance and as part of the scheme incorporating Parliament Square and Whitehall, decided to remodel Trafalgar. However, it wasn't until May 2000 that the scheme was given the go-ahead. By this time, responsibility for the project had transferred from the City of Westminster to the newly formed GLA. One of the objectives of the project was to create a more harmonious square, a place that would attract both tourists and Londoners. As Mayor Ken Livingstone said in March 2002, eight months before work began: "Trafalgar Square will be the symbolic as well as literal heart of London; a lively and accessible place to be enjoyed by Londoners and visitors alike".

One of the focuses was on the street furniture both in and around the square. Graham Nash, project manager of TPS Schal said: "We needed to have a sympathetic redress of the existing street furniture. We were brought in to draw on and enhance the existing furniture without conflicting with the historical style of the square. Within the square we aimed to reduce the amount of clutter and create sustainable furniture that would blend in with the surroundings."

Emphasis was on ensuring that the famous design mantra "less is more" was adhered to. A select choice of elegant street furniture coincided with widened pavements, simple paving materials and pedestrian crossings without the obtrusive guardrails. Essentially by maintaining a simplicity in style and minimalising street furniture it reduced the clutter; rather than detracting attention away from the square with intrusive design it becomes coordinated to enhance the overall impact.

Wherever possible, traditional materials have been used. The brass work on the benches was by Morris Singer. In 1868 this company had also made two of Edwin Landseer's lions and then cast the Charles Napier statue, so a sense of continuity had been achieved. Traditional Cornish granite was used for the benches for its durability and longevity. Inside the square bronze benches replaced stone and timber and new removable stalls and tables were created for the café.

For the interior fittings of the café the project team used Corian. This material was chosen as it can be moulded to suit spaces and is hardwearing and resistant. As it is made of quarry waste it is also environmentally sustainable, keeping with the ethos of the project.

The project team worked with input from accessibility consultants to ensure that the square could be as disabled friendly as possible. For this reason the benches have a bronze arms, the pavements were widened, the pedestrian crossings have braile signs and there are lifts to facilitate access to the square.

The lighting architects in charge of enhancing statues, lighting the trees and landscape, and overall street lighting, was Speirs and Major. Throughout the scheme both the lighting layout and the individual luminaires were upgraded with the aim of achieving an appropriate balance and an improved street lighting solution. This had two objectives: firstly, planning, architectural and heritage objectives such as the reduction of street clutter, co-ordination with traffic signal heads, commonality of columns and lanterns. Secondly, lighting objectives such as the provision of an improved lighting quality, including better uniformity, improved colour rendering and colour appearance, the reduction of glare and the commonality of light source.

All grey wornum columns have been upgraded to house ceramic metal halide lamps with variable distribution street lighting optics.  Lighting calculations indicated that the variable optics provided a greater efficiency and flexibility as well as increased levels of uniformity throughout the scheme.  The introduction of a 'whiter' light ceramic metal halide source, means that visual acuity has been improved (particularly at lower light levels), colour rendering, colour appearance and perceived brightness are all increased.  The majority of the grey wornum columns now house 150w CDM-T lamps.

'Heritage' light columns within the scheme have also been refurbished and upgraded to house ceramic metal halide lamps and improved optics including anti glare shields; these utilise either 150w or 70w CDM-T lamps depending upon the mounting height. 

There are a number of ground buried uplights within the scheme, these are used to illuminate statues, tree groups and IGPs (keep left signs).  All ground buried fittings house white light ceramic metal halide sources: Trees - 70w cool white (4000K) , Statues - 70w warm white (3000K) , IGPs (Keep left signs) - 35w warm white (3000K) All fittings are from the Holophane series M9440 and include a double lens arrangement whereby the adjustable luminaire housing is set within the installation sleeve beneath a secondary top glass, this ensures that temperatures on the top glass do not exceed 63 o C at any point, thus ensuring safety.

The main challenge was to achieve a balance between the various lighting recommendations of the City of Westminster. The Speirs and Major lighting layout was designed to meet the following criteria:

• Adequate illumination of the highways (vehicular and pedestrian)
• Lower ambient light levels against the illuminated building facade
• Minimal light spill onto buildings
• Respect and reinforce the hierarchy of buildings and spaces
• Highlight existing and proposed features - sculptures, artworks and landscaping
• Use of white light sources (CDM) to improve colour rendering and visual perception

With regard to this design intent, Mark Major said: "Whilst careful consideration had to be given to the illumination of pedestrian crossings and pedestrian routes through the area, it was our intention that lower light levels across the highways be adopted in line with the recommendations of the Special Areas Design Guide. This allows the 'secondary' lighting of buildings, sculptures, artworks and landscaping to enhance the streetscape and be appropriate to a site of such National Cultural Importance."

This is a quiet lighting scheme, the objectives of improving the night time perception and atmosphere of the area require that no major 'statements' were made. Pedestrians could use the space without being fully aware of the extent of the changes made, in effect the success of the scheme in both lighting and architectural terms is based on people asking, 'what has changed?'  The best clues to the lighting improvements can be found in areas where adjacent streets - still illuminated using high pressure sodium - provide a contrast and reminder of what used to be there.

Another challenge was to reduce 'visual clutter'.  This meant proposing as few column locations as possible as well as integrating other elements of street furniture as part of the layout and design, for example, traffic lights and signage are, wherever possible, mounted on lighting columns.  Mark described the approach: "Our proposed lighting design layout aimed to minimise the quantity of new columns and lantern types without adversely affecting the requirement to provide adequate levels of highways lighting.  The removal of a number of existing column types and the installation of a consistent replacement type has helped to visually unite the square by day and night."

The historical importance of the area and the existing lighting scheme within Trafalgar Square itself (by Lighting Design Partnership in 1993) meant that a high degree of sensitivity was required within the approach.  It was important to retain the integrity of the lighting scheme within the Square by providing suitable lighting levels around it.  Speirs and Major has attempted to provide a scheme that leads into Trafalgar Square rather than surrounds it.  Controlled lighting levels and high uniformity help to achieve a minimal contrast between the two areas.

Published in Surveyor (14 August 2003).