Nurol Life is a residential and commercial complex in the centre of Istanbul designed by Hakan Kiran Architecture. Architecturally, it is divided into different structures for the different functions: the main entrance, the area reserved for offices, and the residential apartments in the tower, whose height ensures that it stands out amid the city’s skyline.

ZKLD Light Design Studio were responsible for the lighting project, planning the lighting for the complex’s internal and external areas. Their work won them a place among the finalists of the 2018 edition of the DARC Awards in the SPACES Best Landscape Lighting Scheme, High Budget category. The building’s inner courtyard has a central flowerbed around which Rondò 2.1 fixtures with radial optics are installed. The fixtures’ ground-grazing beams cast a soft light around the courtyard, emphasizing the elongated shape of the garden area set between the glass walls of the surrounding buildings. The same type of lighting fixture was used to light the outdoor walkway of the terrace on the top floor of the office building. Here, the light of the Rondò 2.1 fixtures, recessed into the paving in a line, marks out the entire path with an stylish regularity.

Step Outside 6.2 step lights were chosen to light the steps in the staircase of the outdoor terrace. The lighting fixtures, with their square, stainless steel front and elliptical opening, illuminate alternating steps with asymmetrical optics. The fixtures’ position was carefully chosen by ZKLD to also create an elegant pattern of semicircular patches of light on the small wall next to the staircase, further marking it out.

ZKLD’s work also features inside the architectural complex. The building’s main hall is a large space with a white and red marble floor covered by a glass-panelled ceiling supported by metal beams. Its elegance is also reflected in the slotted wooden walls, which alternate full and empty spaces in a way that is reminiscent of a colonnade. Recessed between the vertical gaps that mark out the walls are Bright 2.4 fixtures with a 2700K warm light and 11° narrow optics: the effect they produce emphasises the grain in the light wood and gives a three-dimensionality to the wall.