Lighting Project Spotlight: Grand Villa Casino

Accentuating Fun & Fluidity with Designer Lighting

Edmonton's Grand Villa Casino, illuminated by Lightnet's Liquid Line suspension lights

When it comes to establishing a trend and setting a mood, Fiona Rimmer, Interior Designer with Kasian Architecture, knows first-hand that lighting plays a key role. In designing the Grand Villa Casino in Edmonton, she collaborated with the lighting designer Ombrages to establish a sense of entertainment and discovery. Knowing how the different products will work together, the type of illumination the lighting will provide and if it is enough light, is challenging.

"When you're designing an entertainment space like this, the light has a significant effect on how space looks and feels," says Rimmer. "Achieving the right balance of light in the variety of spaces in a casino is a challenge. That makes it critical to have a lighting designer assist. Not only do they have the knowledge about so many different products, they provide the expertise in creating a holistic lighting solution and including many different lighting effects"

Kasian Architecture and Ombrages collaborated to create custom installations of Lightnet's Liquid Line suspension lights to add energy and flow to the casino floor

Inspired by the name Grand Villa, Kasian based the casino's design on a Roman villa with various rooms and spaces within it. "The gaming floor was the 'colonnade'," explains Rimmer. "So for lighting in that area, we were really looking to create movement through the space and something that related to the architecture. There were curved shapes defining the gaming floor space and we thought the lighting should relate to those shapes."

That's when Ombrages came up with the idea of using Lightnet's Liquid Line suspension lights. Liquid Line was able to make curved shapes, and it was able to curve in two directions, which a lot of linear fixtures don't do.

Liquid Line's curvilinear suspension lights create movement throughout the space

"We'd review the fixture aesthetically from a design point—but where the lighting designer was critical was to ensure the light would provide suitable light levels in the space and what kind of effect it would create."

"Often they'd recommend how the lighting could be suspended or recessed in a cove, for example, and provided the correct detail for that. Ombrages was integral in figuring out the lighting details once we moved through the design and into construction."

In addition to its appealing scale, Ombrages recommended Liquid Line because of its range of finish options, which a lot of typical linear manufacturers can't support. Rimmer specified a warm gold tone that best reflected the other materials in the space.

Liquid Line comes in many finish options, including the bronze finish above

As opposed to adding time to the overall design process, Rimmer finds that working with a lighting designer results in added efficiencies. "Ombrages worked alongside us through the design, so together we could come up with solutions," says Rimmer. "We'd be developing the design and share ideas for lighting treatments and products—and by working this way, we were able to move the design forward quickly."

Regardless of whether a project is large scale or comfortably cozy, Rimmer feels it is important to ensure lighting doesn't become an after-thought: "I think the trick to dealing with lighting is making sure that it is a key point to the design and not leave it to something to figure out at the end."

"Address it first and as part of your design process. Not only does it have a nice effect on a space—it can change the experience."

Discover Lightnet's architectural lighting solutions at LightForm.

Feeling inspired by the lithe architectural fixtures that flow through Grand Villa Casino? Find more fun and fluid fixtures online or let us help you build the perfect lighting plan for your project by contacting our offices and showrooms in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Kelowna, and Winnipeg!

Photos courtesy of Kasian, Ombrages, and Jim Dobie Photography.