Edinburgh, Scotland
Argyle Tower is built over the Portcullis Gate entrance to Edinburgh Castle. KSLD | EFLA was commissioned by Historic Environment Scotland to design the lighting as an integral part of their new Fight for the Castle exhibition. Our scheme is fully integrated with projections on the vaulted ceiling and short animations in each of the five niches. The lighting equipment is fully concealed in the exhibition structure; mostly consisting of linear LED fittings by KKDC with carefully selected colour temperatures and optical distributions. Each fitting is detailed into the structures at specific angles and distances to achieve highly controlled illumination. There are five museum cases of artefacts relating to the storytelling. Each of these uses MSL Protozoa fittings built into cases on rails to allow fully flexible positioning and focussing onto artefacts and text. A dramatic feature of the exhibition is an abstracted trebuchet that reaches across the room. This contains a framing projector to illuminate a stone ball believed to have been fired at the Castle during the siege of 1296, and spotlighting for text panels. Emergency lighting is concealed within the trebuchet as well as work lights for cleaning and maintenance. Overall lighting levels are quite low, allowing for dramatic projections onto the vault, while providing the appropriate atmosphere for the rich history within the exhibition, which takes place mostly at night.
Fight for the Castle visitor experience at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. Video credits: © Historic Environment Scotland
Developed and Commissoned by our Client: Historic Environment Scotland
Visitor Experience and Exhibition Design: Qualia Ltd, Richard Mathers Lead Designer
Illustration, Animation and Audiovisual Design: Ay-Pe
Trebuchet Sound Design: Rob Jackson
Audiovisual Integration: Mediascape
Display Case Design: ClickNetherfield
Fabrication Design and Installation: Splintr
Light Sources: KKDC
Lighting Designers: Kevan Shaw, Jamie Foxen, Claire Tomara
Photography: © Historic Environment Scotland
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