A car showroom is much more than an exhibition space. It is where customers encounter the product, discovering its shapes, colours and details for the first time, but it is also a workplace experienced every day by sales consultants and staff.
At the Martignoni Volkswagen site in Gallarate, these two dimensions coexist within the same project. On one side are the vehicles, the protagonists of the display area and in need of light capable of enhancing their design; on the other are the workstations, where visual comfort and environmental quality become essential during the many hours spent in front of display screens.
The lighting project developed with 3F Filippi solutions was created precisely to interpret these different needs through light tailored to each area. Rather than undifferentiated illumination, the project uses colour rendering, glare control, luminous flux regulation and colour-temperature variation to create an environment able to adapt to people, products and different moments of the day.
In the display area, good lighting first of all means allowing customers to see the car as it really is.
Car bodies are complex surfaces: glossy paintwork, metallic elements, glass and interior details all react differently to light. Poorly controlled lighting can create distracting reflections or alter colour perception; precise light, by contrast, can guide the eye along the lines of the vehicle and give depth to materials and finishes.
For this reason, 3F LEM luminaires were specifically customised for the project, with particular attention to high colour rendering. Light quality thus becomes a tool for presenting the cars naturally, allowing colours, surfaces and details to be appreciated more faithfully.
A showroom, however, changes continuously throughout the day. The amount of daylight entering from outside varies and, with it, the requirements for artificial lighting. This led to the choice of DALI versions, making the light adjustable and able to respond to changing conditions within the space.
Within the showroom, 3F LEM therefore becomes a design tool rather than simply a light source.
The ability to manage luminous flux via the DALI protocol makes it possible to calibrate the amount of light emitted throughout the day, avoiding the need to operate the system constantly at maximum output when ambient conditions do not require it.
This adjustment also contributes to customer visual comfort. In a space where the gaze continuously shifts between the vehicles and the surrounding surfaces, controlled lighting helps limit glare and excessive contrasts.
High colour rendering completes the project: body colours, interior materials and vehicle details can be perceived more naturally. Light follows the product without overpowering it. The cars remain the protagonists, while the lighting quietly creates the best conditions in which to view them.
Just a few metres away, the requirements change completely.
At workstations equipped with display screens, the priority is no longer to emphasise a product, but to create comfortable visual conditions for people who spend a significant part of their working day in front of a screen.
These areas feature 3F HD luminaires in the channel-mounted FDP Tunable White version, selected to combine glare control at screen-based workstations with more dynamic management of light.
Keeping UGR levels low is particularly important in these environments: reflections and excessive luminance can interfere with screen viewing and reduce comfort during prolonged periods of work. Light therefore becomes more controlled and discreet. Its role is not to attract attention, but to create a balanced visual background that allows people to focus on their activities.
Tunable White technology adds another dimension to the project: time.
The ability to vary colour temperature makes it possible to create different lighting scenarios throughout the day, bringing artificial lighting closer to the natural variation of daylight.
This is the principle behind the Human Centric Lighting approach: considering light not only in terms of visibility, but also in relation to people and their daily rhythm. At the dealership workstations, Tunable White technology can therefore accompany the different phases of the day through changes in light tone, helping create an environment focused on comfort and people’s wellbeing.
The Martignoni Volkswagen project therefore tells two different stories of lighting design within the same building. 3F LEM enhances the product and adapts to showroom conditions; 3F HD FDP Tunable White focuses on the people who experience the space every day. Two different needs, united by one principle: using the right amount of light, in the right way, at the right time.
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