Andromeda Turns The Lights On In Beijing

In the wake of the success of Shanghai's Bar Rouge, French architect Imaad Rahmouni (former pupil of Philippe Starck) puts his signature on Klubb Rouge in the sparkling Chinese capital of Beijing. One of its most distinctive features is a cascade of glass and light created by Andromeda—a lighting installation consisting of 650 irregular Murano red glass spheres, blown and shaped by hand and arranged in four rows with 22 cascades each, for a total of 88 cascades. Eighty-eight was chosen because in Chinese numerology 8 is a lucky number. The spheres take up a total surface area of 269 square feet (82 square meters) and are the characterising feature of the lounge/restaurant.

The exquisite glass is accompanied by 8,000 LEDs and 250 spotlights powered by fiber optics that provide diffused atmospheric lighting. The red spheres sparkle with a different intensity and transparency according to the thickness of the glass and are modeled individually in appropriate sizes and shapes.

Throughout the length of the installation, the spheres are mirrored in a steel plate that reflects and expands the chromatic effect from the top to the bottom. The light stimulates a three-dimensional effect, helping to create an experience of total immersion in red.