Mood-Enhancing Lighting At Crystal Towers Hotel

Driving along the N1 out of Cape Town, one would hardly be pressed to notice the somewhat stilted-looking upright building that stands adjacent to Cape Town’s legendary theme park, Ratanga Junction. It emerges from the surrounding cityscape like an enormous tower...two in fact! This, dear friends is none other than the African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel and Spa. Yes, the “one with that pool”!

Only opened in 2009, the hotel has wasted no time in making its mark on South Africa’s hospitality map, and with good reason. Firstly, how many hotels have you stayed in where the rooms have LED mood-enhancing lighting?? Yes, you heard right...this place is a real high-tech marvel. It now makes sense to me  that all the people inside the hotel, most notably the staff- are always such gracious, happy, smiling balls of sunshine.

From the embedded lights in the welcoming red carpet in the reception, to the cylindrical frosted glass showers, this feeling of positivity and wellbeing can also be experienced throughout the entire hotel. We don’t realise how much of a role visual perception plays such in how we feel, and this was exactly what the architects were trying to pin-point when designing the building.

Crystal Towers is a five star establishment and to highlight this, they created focal points of interest, where through the use of subtle distinct lighting; guests are subconsciously guided to each of the facilities. How clever is that?!

A lot of “trial” lighting was done first, before the real installation took place where an RGB colour-changing strip was used to try out different colour scenarios. Imagine what a fun job that must be?! This was how the pink colour was chosen for the bedrooms.

The visual experience and atmosphere comes alive once night falls and the contrast between the dark and light spaces is accentuated. A glass column at the entrance to the hotel is illuminated by high intensity lights that create an internal wash from the top and bottom of the column. This approach is similar to drawing a moth to a flame (Can’t. Not. Follow. The. Light)

I discovered that the choice of LED lighting actually has many energy-saving benefits and makes it a natural choice for hotels as it reduces energy consumption and operating costs. The external lighting is also managed by a system that switches the lights on and off at pre-set times, and can be programmed to suit the sunrise and sunset times of the different seasons.

Apart from the special “glow” that seems to effortlessly radiate from the aptly named hotel, it’s good to know that Crystal Towers is an environmentally aware and responsible place!