ERCO lights up Xavier Hufkens Gallery in Brussels

Xavier Hufkens has been dealing in contemporary art for over three decades and his gallery is one of the major names on the scene, operating from several locations in Brussels and representing international artists such as Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin. Robbrecht en Daem Architects from Ghent has now extended the gallery's historic townhouse headquarters by creating a striking extension of concrete and glass. With exhibition spaces on five levels, it creates flowing transitions from the old to the new building, establishing a wide variety of spatial situations with varying amounts of daylight, thus providing a versatile background for up to six temporary exhibitions per year.

The new spaces at Sint-Jorisstraat exemplify how the right lighting concept is able to support optimal display and therefore the sale of artworks in a commercial gallery. What appears to be a bold combination of a time-honoured townhouse with minimalism from the outside, reveals itself as a perfect architectural shell for presenting high-calibre contemporary art inside. Robbrecht en Daem Architects had previously converted the approximately 100-year-old existing building from a townhouse to a gallery in 1992 and have now planned the extension as a monolithic volume. The levels are aligned in such a way that a "promenade architecturale" can pass through both parts of the building—all floor heights of the new annexe match those of the existing building, meaning that the gallery’s exhibition spaces over five levels seamlessly merge.

The interplay between the new building and the existing structure creates a diversity of rooms with very different, partly museum-like proportions—room heights vary from 3.10 metres (third floor) to 9.10 metres (on the ground floor). This variety of scales corresponds to the diversity of the artworks on display, ranging from small-format prints to monumental paintings, sculptures and expansive installations. The projecting stack structure of the new building allows the use of natural light through skylights on each floor. The rear facade opens out towards the garden via floor-to-ceiling glass surfaces, and in the basement to a newly created atrium. "The diverse incidence of light creates diverse worlds of experience," states project architect Kim Poorters. "The art on display, as well as the artificial light, consistently relate to this in new ways."

ERCO LED spotlights and wall washers in combination

The challenge then was to find the right balance between natural and artificial light for the different spaces. "The uniform distribution of light in the rooms was an essential aspect," explains the architect. "It influenced where the track was positioned as well as the detailed design of the skylights." The lighting concept emerged in close collaboration between the Hufkens team, lighting designer Siegrid Siderius and electrical contractor Jacques Verliefden. Eclipse InTrack wall washers and track-mounted spotlights combine uniform general lighting in all spaces with focused accent lighting for the works of art. Uniform wall washing creates a good impression of brightness with a high level of visual comfort for gallery visitors, while selectively placing light accents on the individual artworks to present them optimally.

Eclipse spotlights from ERCO

"We organised mock-ups on site and did a number of lighting calculations to find out which wall washer producer had the best light distribution and luminous efficacy," reports lighting designer Siderius. "The ERCO wall washer turned out to be the best. The uniform design of the new Eclipse where the wall washers have the same appearance as the spotlights also won over the client and architect," she says. All luminaire bodies as well as the track suspended under the corrugated concrete ceiling of the new foyer were specified with silver surfaces. Visually, the interior fittings and technology are kept to a minimum—nothing should distract from presenting the works of art. No superfluous detail disturbs the completely homogeneous impression of the architecture as a blank canvas that adapts with maximum flexibility to the exhibitions that change every six weeks: the Eclipse spotlights are freely positionable on the track.

The light distributions available consist of the interchangeable optics Flood, Spot and Narrow Spot, and two sets of luminaires with light colours 3000K and 3500K respectively, allowing the colour mood of the exhibition to be modified to the wishes of the artist. "For each show, the gallery team and the artist‘s team work closely to realise the artist‘s vision for the space," explains Piet Bloquiaux, an employee at Xavier Hufkens Gallery. "In some cases, as with the Nicolas Party exhibition, the artist may even choose to paint the wall surfaces in colours matching the artworks."

In order to work efficiently and successfully, today’s art galleries need to be both prestigious exhibition spaces as well as functional offices and meeting areas with nuanced lighting concepts. In the offices of his gallery in Sint-Jorisstraat, Hufkens opted for glare-free task lighting with dimmable Jilly LED downlights from ERCO. These provide employees at VDU workstations with a high level of visual comfort and the option of dimming the light according to the situation. Gallery employee Piet Bloquiaux is completely satisfied with the lighting concept: "It responds to the specific needs and functions of each space and creates a cohesive visual experience throughout the entire building."

As in the Xavier Hufkens Gallery in Brussels, the focus of commercial galleries is the direct encounter between artwork and people and thus also the staging of this moment through lighting design and architecture.

The white paper 'Lighting for commercial art galleries' provides gallery owners and planners with a compact summary of tips for lighting design in different types of galleries - from white cubes to dramatic staging in immersive exhibition spaces. Everything for the perfect presentation of art.