Coffee house lighting brings joy in the middle of the city

Paulig Kulma is a refreshing meeting place that was recently opened at the Kluuvi shopping centre in Helsinki. The two-floor coffee house has room for meetings, working or just relaxing while observing the bustle of the city. The coffee house premises feature a roastery, a café and an institute for training baristas. The coffee house premises were designed by the designers of Bond Creative Agency, who teamed up with Sweco’s lighting experts to create a boldly unique lighting scheme.

To Sweco’s lighting designers, lighting is an essential part of our living environment. Designer Aleksi Hautamäki of Bond and his team have a history of designing visual looks for restaurants and cafés. To him, the materials used and a simplified aesthetic approach play a key role. In the Kulma premises, light wood, copper and graphical elements are skilfully combined, and the lighting creates just the right kind of atmosphere for the different spaces.

On the first floor of the coffee house, you can choose between two different and innovative spaces for your coffee moment. During a quick and casual visit, you can sit in a chair hanging from the ceiling and watch the bustle of the city, but if you wish to have a more intimate conversation, the so-called mini cabinets are definitely the best choice.

The lighting of Kulma has been clearly divided into decorative and functional lights. The design of the decorative lights contributes to the visual look of the concept, and they create atmosphere in the premises. The functional lights, on the other hand, can be used to adjust the general lighting in accordance with the time of day. In the mini cabinets, customers can adjust the lighting to suit their needs. Additionally, the facade of Kulma, i.e. the inner surfaces of the window frames, features programmable RGB LED lights, which enable the addition of different themes to the premises by using colours and animation. Sweco’s expertise proved invaluable, particularly when designing the controls and the programmability.