THE ILLUMINATION OF THE NEW LEAGUE OF NATIONS PALACE IN GENEVA

JUNE 1938 175

by L. C. KALFF.

The League of Nations Palace is intended forthe housing of all League organisations (except theBureau de Travail which is already definitelyestablished elsewhere), which up to now have beenaccommodated in various buildings in Geneva. Thedifferent parts of this organization are naturallyvery diverse in character. There are administrativedepartments which are in daily use, assemblyhalls which are scenes of activity now and againfor several days or weeks when there are congressesand meetings of international committees, and acons~derable portion of the building is intended forthe very momentous and festive gatherings onimportant occasions, for which banquet halls andmonumental rooms are necessary. The extensivegroup of buildings includes four sections, as maybe seen from the ground plan (fig. 1), namely theoffices of the secretarial department, the sectionfor the League Council, in the main axis the hall ofthe representatives of the Assembly with committeerooms surrounding it, and finally the library.

The illumination of the secretarial depart-men t is mainly ultilitarian, and its design is forthe most part determined by the dimensions of themains. The latter are not very heavy so that in theoffices, which are in light colours, diffuse direct1ighting had chiefly to be used, with one diffuser(type DM; fig. 2a) with a lamp of 150 decalumens(UI W) per desk, so that an illumination of about

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65 lux is obtained on the desk, and at the same timea sufficient general illumination (fig. 3). Only inseveral low-ceilinged rooms in which the typistssit, and where one would be too much restrictedin the placing of the desks if direct lighting wereused, are indirect reflectors (type WX;fig. 2b) used,. with a uniform illumination of about UO lux. Inthis way the placing of the desks is left quite free(fig. 4). In the evening this wing of the buildingwith its many lighted windows makes a very fineeffect from the "Cour du Sécrétariat", as maybe seen from the vignette at the head of thisarticle.In the section for the League Council the rooms

are lighted in the same way with the exception ofseveral rooms for which special plans were madein collaboration with the architects. In the firstplace there is the "S alle du Conseil" which offeredparticdlarly difficult problems. The entire hall is

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Fig. 1. Plan of the League of Nations Palace.

176 PHILlPS TECHNICAL REVIEW Vol. 3, No. 6

executed in polished grey marble and so called"Camaieu painting" in grisaille on a gold back-ground. The result is poorly reflecting, dark wallsand ceiling, with locally strongly reflecting surfaces.

be in a poor light as seen from the hall, namelyonly in silhouette.The committee rooms all open on the approxima-

tely 160 metre long gallery which is 10 metres high.

Fig. 2. a DM DiffuserFig. 3. Illumination with diffusing fixtures DM of one of the rooms of the secretarial

department of the League of Nations.

The only possible illumination was the installationof extensive ornamental lighting fixtures with largediffusely radiating surfaces with as low brightnessas possible. For this purpose Perzei of Paris con-structed large bronze bowls 2 metres in diameterwith thick glass rings behind which the lamps wereplaced in white reflectors (fig. 5). The light-colouredcurtains before the five enormous windows are il-luminated decoratively from above with silverreflectors, but not too intensely, since otherwisethe Council, with its back to the windows, would

The gallery ends in square chambers which are lightedindirectly by four large bronze standards by Per zel,with lamps of 500 watts which light the ceiling(fig. 6), and are provided with a frosted glass rimto avoid sharp-edged shadows on the walls. An

Fig. 4. Indirect illumination with WX fixtures; the placing of the desks ishere independent of the lighting. Fig. 2. b WX Indirect lighting fixture.

JUNE 1938 ILLUMINATION LEAGUE OF NATIONS PALACE

indirect illumination with small40 watt lamps at distance of 20cm in a continuous chromiumplated reflector forms the mainillumination of the gallery. Mostof the committee rooms arelighted indirectly from vaultedportions of their ceilings (jig. 7).Three small silvered parabolicreflectors per linear metreare introduced in recesses onrails previously fixed. Eachreflector contains a lamp of40 watts and a very pleasantuniform illumination IS ob-tained. In front of every reflec-tor a convex, partially frostedglass had to be introduced

Fig. 5. View of the "SalIe du Conseil". to avoid light spots, whileat the same time the light

reflected from the recesses themselves furtherpromotes this uniformity. Since many of the re-cesses had already been finished before the lightingwas projected, the correct proportioning of thelighting system was very difficult. In some cases,instead of the silvered reflectors, a continuouschromium plated reflector had to be mounted withfive lamps per metre to get a uniform illumination.The "SalIe des Pas Perdus" (fig. 8) which

is treated in a particularly decorative manner, opensoff the middle of the great gallery, and serves asa foyer to the great "SalIe de l'Assemblée". Thedark polished granite floor and the marble columns(jig. 9) here again presented great dificulties. Themain illumination was finally designed as indirectlighting from a built-in recess in the gallery whichruns along the 56metre long hall (see cross section Ein fig. 8). Five reflectors (type se 170; fig. la) perlinear metre with 60 watt lamps were installedin this recess and light the ceiling (16.8 kW). Tolimit direct vision of the lamps from the gallerywhite metal partitions were introduced betweenthe reflectors, while the whole was made dustproof with bent glass plates which are slightlyfrosted on the inside to eliminate light streaks. Theshort sides of the long hall have no reflectors asthe portions of the ceiling at the ends would other-wise be more intensely lighted than the rest, butfor the sake of uniformity of the whole only bare40 watt lamps with five per linear metre aremounted there behind the bent glass plates. Theother long side of the hall has. nine enormousbronze window frames 12 metres high, each frameenclosed by a bronze moulding. In this moulding

Fig. 6. Large bronze standard by Perzei for indirect lightingwith 500 watt lamps.

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(detail D in fig. 8) there is a con-tinuous row of tubular lamps"Philinea", 80 watts per metre)with white enamelled reflectorswhich light the white surfaceof moulded plaster between themarble columns. This gives avery dignified but also festivecharacter to the hall. For thisillumination 9 times 42 "Phi-linea" lamps 50 cm long werenecessaryaltogether (15.12 kW).Between the windows are eightbronze standards (fig. 6) byPerzeI with 500 watt lampswhich give light accents (cffig. 9). In total16 + 4 + 15 =35 kW is installed.The great "Salle de l'Assem-b l é e" (jig. 11) presented a par-

PHILIPS TECHNICAL REVIEW Vol. 3, No. 6

Fig. 7. Indirect lighting of one of the committee rooms.

Fig. 9. View of the "Salle des Pas Perdus".

ticularly complicated problembecause in this huge hall theillumination had to be entirelypart of the architecture (jig. 12),and not only on the podium andthe speakers chair, but also onthe floor, was a very good illu-mination necessary, while also inthe two deep galleries the publicand the press had to be ableto read and write. The mainillumination was obtained inimitation of the daylight illumi-nation by 132 silvered reflectorswith lamps of 300 and 500 wattsabove the glass middle section ofthe ceiling. This section of theceiling consists of so-called t.her-molux glass, two layers of clearglass with a layer of glass woolbetween, and is very fine in ap-pearance and gives gooddiffusion.

Fig. 10. Reflectors, types SC 170 andSC 130.

JUNE 1938 ILLUMINATION LEAGUE OF NATIONS PALACE

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180 PHILlPS TECHNICAL REVIEW

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Fig. Ll, Construction scheme of the "Sa IIe de l'Assemblée".A longitudinal section of the hall,B ground plan of the hall,e crosswise section of the hall,D detail of the rear wall of the podium in vertical cross section, .E and El, normal and film lighting installations in the light recess above the podium;

in fig. 12 the latter is visible as four light spots directly under the loudspeakers.

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JUNE 1938 ILLUMINATION LEAGUE OF NATIONS PALACE 181

A flat white band runs around this glass surfaceand is lighted by 25 watt lamps in a bronze recess(at G in fig. 11). Outside of this there is a widecurved border of plaster which has been sprayed

Fig. 12. Vieuw of the "Salle de I'Assemblée".

with a soft sound-absorbing material. This borderis uniformilly lighted by a row of silvered reflectorswith 150 watt lamps hidden in a plaster recesswhich is gilded on the outside (at F in fig. 11).These lamps can be reached for repair above thehall on travelling bridges above the glass and

Fig. 13. Lighting of the side galleries of the "S alle del'Assemblée".

behind shutters for the recesses. These shuttersare necessary primarily for the ventilationsystem. The ordinary illumination of the po-dium is by five silvered reflectors type SC 255

with 200 watt lamps which arehidden in the gilded recess abovethe podium. To prevent directvision into the reflectors fromthe hall they are provided withlouvres (detail E in fig. 11). Inaddition to this ordinary illumi-nation of the podium there isalso an installation for filmlighting (detail El in fig. 11),which may be seen as four spotlights in fig. 12 directly under theloud speakers. The marble wallbehind the podium has a smalllight 'recess with 25 watt lampsin reflectors type SC130 (at D infig. 11), for the purpose of placinga light accent on the chief detailof the hall. The galleries haveindirect illumination from longstrips of white plaster in the

ceiling which are lighted with 25watt lamps in chro-mium-plated metal reflectors (at H and I in fig. 11).In the preceding paragraph we mentioned the

installation for film lighting. To facilitate newsreel reporting during meetings and discussions it wasnecessary to be able to illuminate intensely hutfor brief periods the podium with the speaker, andalso certain sections of the hall where the dele-gations from the different member countries sit, veryintensely for short times. In order to do this in away which is the least disturbing for the speakersit must be possihle to raise the level of illuminationat the place to be photographed to 1500 lux orhigher for several minutes whenever desired. Forthis purpose four permanent spot lights with mirrorsand condenser lenses are installed ahove the podium,each of which has a power of 3 kW. These lampslight the chairman's table, and the speakers position.Since the light comes from very high up, it is notdisturbing, however, side lighting from the hall mustalso be provided since otherwise the lighting of thesubjects to be photographed would be very poor.In addition there are five round openings in the

ceiling on the right side of the podium which can beclosed (see fig. 12, in the lighted part of the ceiling atthe left). Behind these openings are five large mirrorreflectors, two permanently directed on the podiumand provided with 5 000 watt lamps, and threewith 10000 watts which can be directed on 25 dif-

182 PHILlPS .TECHNICAL REVIEW Vol. 3, No. 6

ferent sections of the floor of the hall. The operatorof these lamps is in telephonic communication withthe film cabins which are situated under the firstgallery.The side galleries of this hall have one part which

Fig. IS. a FLC Fixture.

is lighted indirectly from a marble alcove by 25wattlamps in reflectors of type SC 130 (jig. 13). Theselamps provide a uniform illumination of the slopingportion of the ceiling formed by the undersideof the first gallery. The rest of the space is lightedby four large square ceiling ornaments by pé r zelof Paris. Behind the white diffusing glass of eachornament there are 18 lamps of 65 watts.It would lead us too far afield if we were to des-

cribe in detail the lighting of every hall and roomin the building. We shall therefore conclude with

a description of the temporary flood-light instal-lation of the front of the building giving on the"Cour d'Honneur" which was used at theopening (jig. 14). The requirement in this case wasthat on evenings of festive occasions the outside of

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Fig. IS. b Light distribution curve of a FLC mirror reflector.

the building should be well lighted, and in fact sowelllighted that it might be seen from the other sideof Lake Geneva, which is fairly broad at this point.At the same time, however, it was required thatpersons in the building should be able to reach thegardens by way of the grand staircase without beingblinded. It was of course difficult to find a singlesolution for both problems. Fig. 14 shows fairlywell the result achieved.

For this purpose three different batteries of24 mirror reflectors, type FLC (jig. 15), with search-light lamps of 1000 watts were set up on the roofof the wing leading to the secretarial department.The intention is to make a permanent installationsome time in the future, which will give not onlya good illumination for a distant view of thebuilding, but which will also illuminate the"Cour d'Honneur" for those present in it.

Fig. 14. Lighted exterior giving on the "Cour d'Honneur".