Ca’ d’Oro wins 2024 Casambi Project of the Year Award
In a celebration of heritage, innovation, and meticulous design, the Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, Italy, has been honored with the 2024 Casambi Project of the Year award. The project, spearheaded by restoration architect Giulia Passante, the Venetian Heritage Foundation, and brought to life by lighting designer Alberto Pasetti Bombardella with ERCO, has revived the iconic facade of the Ca’ d’Oro through a unique blend of historical restoration and cutting-edge lighting technology.
The Ca’ d’Oro, a 15th-century patrician palace nestled along Venice’s Grand Canal, underwent extensive restoration, uncovering layers of its vibrant past. Passante‘s dedication to preserving the palace’s rich history led to the discovery of the original polychrome grandeur, including red and white marbles, traces of lapis lazuli blue, gold leaf and a signature golden glow. The goal was to bring this back to life through the medium of light.
Breaking away from tradition, lighting designer Alberto Pasetti Bombardella faced the challenge of reimagining the traditional Venetian approach to illuminating buildings. The lighting project aimed to simulate the interplay of light and water, capturing the essence of Venice’s unique atmosphere. The use of Casambi’s wireless control system provided the flexibility needed for the complex lighting scenes, overcoming the challenges posed by Venice’s historical constraints. Choreographed within the Casambi App, 90+ LED luminaires by ERCO, adorned with bespoke filters, illuminate the facade in 51 static lighting scenes and four mesmerizing animation sequences. The longest sequence spans an impressive 300 seconds, creating a breathtaking display of radiant illumination that accentuates the palace’s architectural splendor.
Shoshanna Segal, Principal at Hartranft Lighting Design, and one of our judges for the 2024 Casambi Awards, praised the project for its smart use of Casambi as a means of remote control, noting the clever timing and patterning cues:
“This is just an exemplary project in every sense of the word. It also benefits from exceptional subject matter. Using Casambi as a means to provide “remote” source control for the front lighting locations and the submerged luminaires were brilliant examples of marrying product and project! I was impressed with the attention paid to avoiding light pollution in the night sky.”
Yvonne Soh, Executive Director of the Singapore Green Building Council and a Casambi Awards judge, emphasized the profound impact of lighting on the historic structure and how it reveals its secrets gloriously:
“The addition of lighting to the façade of this historic building gives it life. The building seems to glow from within with breathtaking beauty. The addition of lighting and controls has delivered a level of dynamism to the project and brought out the innate beauty of the building and its detailing, as well as projected a depth of spaces that would otherwise not have been appreciated”.
Judges, Giorgio Pierini, Design Liaison Manager, iGuzzini Illuminazione, and Fernando García, CEO of Electronica Olfer SL, both commended the project for its impactful lighting elements, successfully balancing light and darkness while showcasing the architectural details of the Ca’ d’Oro.
Giogio said: “Lighting historical buildings is always a challenge, and I can imagine lighting such a wonderful façade in the middle of Venice must have been an incredible challenge. Wireless controls provide a huge advantage in such an environment, where limiting wiring and installation points is a must while controlling the lights individually is equally important to create that delicate balance of light and darkness”.
Fernando adds: “The reflections of the water on the facade, as well as the different scenes created, not only reflect the magnificence of the building but also create scenes of drama and tension that mesmerize the visitor. The detail of the arches, the interior and exterior lighting are perfectly balanced and executed. The lighting is a work of art that lives up to the Ca’ d’Oro itself.”
The project’s successful conservation efforts, impressive impact, the creation of scenes that captivate onlookers earned it the well-deserved recognition as the 2024 Casambi Project of the Year.
