bluebottle expanded Fed Square’s iconic façade lighting, delivering a new architectural system that illuminates the rear of the building, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV, and the car park façade. Dynamic strip and spot lighting now extend Fed Square’s night-time identity with a cohesive, event-responsive glow.
Federation Square
Melbourne, Australia
“It was really important that we brought Fed Square to life, and that we animated it day and night."
Katrina Sedgwick
Director & CEO, Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation
Customer challenge
Fed Square needed a lighting upgrade that enhanced its iconic, heritage-listed architecture while improving the night-time experience for visitors. As Melbourne’s central civic hub, the challenge was creating a cohesive lighting identity across multiple façades that supports safety, inclusion, and vibrant event activity—strengthening its role as a welcoming public destination.
The solution
bluebottle supplied, commissioned, and programmed an integrated system using Color Kinetics, Dynalite, and a Pharos controller. Fixtures are mounted across the façade’s geometric forms, including a custom catenary lighting housing, each contributing to dynamic, event-responsive effects. Our work helped deliver the design intent and a cohesive scheme that enhances safety and creates a memorable night-time identity for this iconic Melbourne landmark.
Team
Certified System Integrator: bluebottle
Lighting Designer: ARUP
Client / end user: Brolec Electrical / MAP Co
Architects: Lovell Chen, URBIS Limited
Products
Dynalite
Pharos
Color Kinetics (Graze, accent, burst)