Retail Design Specialists

'The Sun Is In The Sky' and also now in my shopping environment! Thanks to those clever people over at LAPD Consultants who have devised a heliostat to bring natural light into the atrium of Marks & Spencer at Westfield White City. In simple terms it is a device that tracks the movement of the sun and the name comes from the Greek word for sun, helios and stat, as in stationary. It is typically used to orient a mirror throughout the day, to redirect sunlight along a fixed axis towards a stationary target or receiver; in this case you and I as we go about buying our undies and M&S food treats from the store below. They didn't stop there, but went ahead to add a whole bunch of mirrors to harness the sunlight and bounce it around the building.

Comprising of a 2.5 sq m primary mirror system on the roof, this then tracks the sun (no mean feat in the UK) and reflects light on to nine secondary mirrors, each around a metre square, mounted on a frame on the other side of the atrium. Five of these mirrors contain 36 smaller mirrors at different angles, which dapple sunlight on to the floor some 20m below. The numerous escalators below then created a challenge in getting the sunlight through to all of the desired areas and it was a mixture of full-scale prototype mirrors and CAD models that helped LAPD to determine the angles and size of additional dappling mirrors to do the job. These mirrors became quaintly termed 'angel' mirrors.
Four mirrors on the secondary mirror structure are flat and are angled to strike these prismatic reflectors or 'angels' mounted to the escalators – these reflect and refract sunlight, creating rainbow effects and white light in the atrium that shimmers with the motion of the escalators on to the walls, escalator sides and floor.

LAPD wanted to go some way to creating a healthy, vibrant environment in which both customers and staff would be happy to spend time and they have admirably resolved this target. As with the design ideas that we can all have in this business, they simply never leave the page without the support of the client and it should be noted that it has been reported that M&S were extremely receptive to the concept from a very early stage.