Helsinki, Finland

Finlandia Hall is a Helsinki, Finland, hotspot that hosts a unique collection of events, including concerts, congress meetings, and conferences. It was the brainchild of famed architect Alvar Aalto, who painstakingly articulated every design detail, down to the metal-halide light fixtures that would illuminate the exterior of the building. But when the lamps eventually proved inefficient, Hall directors turned to LED floodlights from Philips Color Kinetics to revive Aalto's meticulous masterwork.

Previously, to configure light shows, lighting managers had to manually cover the twelve conventional rooftop 1000 W metal halide lights with gels, sometimes enduring frigid outdoor conditions to achieve a limited range of light schemes. But now that the conventional lighting has been replaced by six Philips Color Kinetics ColorReach Powercore LED floodlights (now specified using ColorReach Powercore gen2), conditions — and options — have improved considerably. Lighting managers can choose from pre-programmed light shows or even create new shows in real time, all from their own computers. "Now we are able to create a separate color scheme for each event to suit the individual organizer's requirements," Sakari Wikholm, Finlandia Hall's lighting manager, said. "Our major customers see this as a significant improvement."

In addition to diversifying color capabilities, the ColorReach Powercore solution has also allowed for hefty energy savings over the previous metal-halide system.