La Positiva Seguros

La Positiva Seguros has been providing more than two million clients with insurance expertise for nearly 70 years. As part of a broader initiative to relaunch their image, the company wanted to update the aesthetic of its building façades in San Isidro to convey technological advancement and reflect the dynamic Peruvian society.

Transforming La Positiva Seguros’ main building - a familiar structure in San Isidro - presented complex challenges. The client specified that the project could only involve modification of light. It also needed to deliver high impact with low energy consumption and minimal construction, all for a reasonable investment.

Lighting Designer, Sabrina Mandel, proposed a re-design to enhance resolution on the media façade, add movement to the light shows, increase contrast, and raise the quality of the display by doubling the intensity of light and expanding an additional 200 m² (2,000 sq ft) beyond the original lighted area.

The project included 207 Color Kinetics iColor Flex LMX gen2 (now specified with Flex Compact gen3, RGB) strands of large, high-intensity, full-color LED nodes mounted to deliver more than double the illumination of the previous lighting. This enables more dynamic and extraordinary light effects on the twelve-storey main building. As noted in the Construction Details, the luminaires are hidden from the pedestrian level, recessed inside an aluminum profile that works as a parasol 150 mm (6 in) deep and allows the luminaires to light the underside of the eaves directly above with uniform light. The 360 m² (3,800 sq ft) glass dome at the top of the building ensures that light shows can be viewed from any angle.

Using 150 mm (6 in) on-center spacing, smaller grids 100 mm x 1.5 m (4 in x 5 ft) of Flex luminaires were combined to produce a 1500 m² (16,000 sq ft) façade. This enables future expansion of the installation to 1830 m² (19,000 sq ft).

La Positiva Seguros stands out amongst its surroundings by displaying unique, high-impact video content controlled by Color Kinetics Light System Manager (now specified with iPlayer 4). This highly efficient controller enables daily light shows to be loaded in advance, controlled remotely, and is highly configurable. The client selected a primary show to play every day and schedules special light shows that vary according to a relevant message, event, or holiday.

When a show lights up in full color, it brings an interesting dynamism to the district’s central plaza. When lit in white, the plaza is transformed into a quieter space. Day and night, the brightness and intensity of the direct vision luminaires and the transparency of the glass that completes the roof, highlight the structure as the main design element of the square, offering a unique reminder of the variety offered by La Positiva Seguros and the plaza.

From any direction, the buildings on the corner where La Positiva Seguros is located have been elevated with a new energy and importance. With more than 1000 m (3,200 ft) of LED luminaires and less than 10,000 watts of consumption, the project far exceeded expectations and has become an important milestone within the San Isidro shopping district.