Hidden in the heart of the city of Parma, a stone’s throw from the Cathedral and the Baptistery, stands the Gothic church of San Francesco del Prato, used for over 200 years as a penitentiary and today completely restored and open to visitors on the occasion of the numerous initiatives of PARMA – Italian Capital of Culture 2021.
For the rebirth of the building, from its heavy and sad past, as well as the great foresight and commitment of the client, the vision of the architect was fundamental. Giorgio Della Longa.
In the proposed concept, the dark and cold environments of the prisons should have been filled with impalpable light coming from an apparently invisible light source, discreet and integrated into the dimensional and geometric logic of the entire building.
Thanks to a direct comparison and the close collaboration between the designer and XLITE it was possible to create the lighting body designed by the architect, obtaining an identical result to that studied in the rendering phase.
An elegant object with a strong evocative charge, full of technical and technological features. The great challenge that XLITE took up was completed by giving life to “suspension”. Around an aluminum body with high dissipative capacity, specifically designed to keep the weight low but with high mechanical resistance, there is a finely calendered brass casing, to create a cross motif guaranteeing excellent light diffusion, without glare and visual disturbances.
To illuminate the various areas of the church it was necessary to use specially designed optics with emission angles varying from 8° to 115°, completely adjustable and in some cases made of special silicone materials in order to protect the LED electronics and the visual comfort of the user .
San Francesco del Prato will not only be a place of meditation for the faithful, but will be a real focal point of the future Parma: concerts, exhibitions and seminars will be held there, with the aim of bringing the population’s attention to one of the most important buildings of the city remained closed and abandoned for too long. To adapt to this changing nature of the building, the light was made alive, through the DALI management of the lighting it was in fact possible to create different lighting scenarios designed ad hoc for every eventuality.
Our passion is to illuminate and we are proud to have had the opportunity to illuminate a jewel of the city we love.