The ON Residence Hotel is closely tied to the old urban landscape of Thessaloniki, situated in the historic space of the Olympos Naoussa restaurant on Nikis Avenue. The project involved a radical restoration of the legendary listed building and its expansion with an additional 5 floors. The double-height ground floor accommodates the Olympos Naoussa restaurant and the Tiger Loop Bar, while the other seven floors host rooms and suites.
The study and procurement for the building's lighting –a landmark project for Thessaloniki– were entrusted to PROLIGHT, following an invitation to a relevant competition. The main objective was to highlight the building's timeless character and historical aura, while infusing it with a contemporary aesthetic. The complex nature of the project, being a complete reconstruction and restoration of a listed building, along with the addition of extra floors and the need to incorporate the functional, and not only, requirements of a modern hotel, posed the main challenges for the PROLIGHT team.
The chosen style and aesthetics were to preserve the character of the Olympos Naoussa restaurant on the ground floor and progressively transition to a lighter and more modern atmosphere as one moves up to the 7th floor, achieving a balanced eclectic composition by blending minimal, retro, and luxurious elements. In the restaurant, reception, and business lounge of the mezzanine floor, diffused ambient lighting from retro-style fixtures with dimming capability was primarily used to evoke the urban ambiance that has always characterized the place. The bar on the ground floor adopts a funky/decadent vibe with contrasting lighting, lower intensity, and interesting features like the construction behind the bar incorporating light and focused lighting on each table using rechargeable fixtures designed by Matteo Thun.
As one ascends to the rooms, more contemporary elements with integrated architectural lighting, such as recessed downlights, concealed lighting, and reading lights with USB ports for mobile and tablet charging, along with tiny courtesy lights providing gentle illumination at night, guide towards the bathroom. Top-brand decorative lighting fixtures, including pendant, floor, and table lamps from Artemide, Panzeri, and Astro in brass and bronze tones, warm up the space and contribute the desired touch of discreet luxury. Bathrooms are dominated by hidden linear lighting that highlights material choices, while the mirror area is illuminated by diffused retro wall sconces with an IP44 waterproof rating, in bronze finishing.
All lighting fixtures utilize cutting-edge LED chips with excellent color rendering (CRI90+) and advanced optical systems to minimize glare. They are harmoniously combined with 2700K and 3000K color temperatures, depending on usage, location, and the materials' shades they illuminate, to achieve a high-level lighting result. A challenging objective successfully accomplished through lighting was the seamless integration of the old with the new, where lighting fixtures needed to form the cohesive thread, matching both styles. Lighting control in the rooms is achieved through user-friendly scenarios using clear keypads, allowing guests to easily and quickly adjust lighting for work, relaxation, full illumination, or nighttime settings, with additional control over individual groups. This ensures that the lighting and subsequently, the ambiance for the hotel guests are easily determined without complex operations and with minimal energy consumption.
To accurately determine the lighting choices, all areas were studied using a 3D photometric program, testing various alternative solutions during the project, both at the lighting and technical level. Additionally, two complete mock-up rooms were constructed, proving pivotal for the final lighting adjustments in coordination with the interior design material choices. Throughout the construction process, several site visits and meetings with other project engineers were conducted to find on-site solutions for the challenges inevitably arising in listed buildings and their governing restrictions.
In this particular project, PROLIGHT utilized its "Design & Supply" service, which allows clients, in addition to lighting design services, to select the company for the supply of lighting fixtures. The company's exclusive collaborations with top international brands, expertise, knowledge, and experience in hotel lighting and historic monuments led to achieving a technically proficient and aesthetically harmonious lighting outcome within the established schedule and budget, befitting projects with high demands.
Contributors:
PROLIGHT (Artemide, Panzeri, Astro, Ghidini, Lucitalia, Nexia, Greypants)
Architecture: Divercity, D. Thomopoulos
Interior Design: Nikos Fletoridis, Fabienne Spahn
Country / Region of Project Implementation: Greece, Thessaloniki
