Canadian Parliament – West Block

Canadian Parliament - West Block

Ottawa / Canada

Architects: ARCOP with Fournier Gersovitz Moss Drolet & Associates

Both aboveground inside West Block on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill and deep beneath its Victorian High Gothic-style structure are intensely modern Committee Rooms. These spaces demand both advanced technical lighting for television broadcasts and clean aesthetics befitting a formal government ambiance. Innovative, elegant, luminaire assemblies simultaneously illuminate these perfect meeting places and negate the need for conventional, visually oppressive television studio lighting racks

Each seating position in the subterranean Committee Rooms must be lit to the exacting standards of high-definition cameras: both the background and subject must be illuminated with precise aiming angles. The rooms are also used for official receptions and events with theater-style seating. To achieve this functional and human-centric aesthetic balance, highly custom luminaires are installed in layers behind perforated, star-like panels, creating a tapestry of light: the first radiating like an artificial sky; the second concealing glare-controlled spotlights strategically distributed and focused for broadcast sessions.