Belltower Gallery

Located like the Palace of International Forums on Tashkent’s Amir Timur Square, this luxurious gallery for Uzbeki jewelry was completed at the same time as the convention center.

Any luminaires installed were not to disturb the effect of the highly polished laser cut stainless-steel scrim cladding the gallery. For this reason, a freely sketched neon line hovers in the interior space as the room’s only lighting element.

What may look effortless in fact required planning, manufacturing, preparation and assembly in the most precise detail. The effect of the “light serpent” determines the gallery’s atmosphere without dominating it. The play of mirrored effects and reflections of the room on the stainless steel ornamentation change—depending on where the beholder stands.

For illuminating the jewelry display cases the lighting designers used a fiber optic system whose minimalistic lighting elements, lenses and luminance are impressive. The fiber-optic cable was laid underground and the projectors and transformers concealed behind the display cases.

Developer
The Republic of Uzbekistan

Completion
2009

Surface area
100 m2

Interior designers
Ippolito Fleitz Group GmbH, Stuttgart

Lighting design
pfarré lighting design
Gerd Pfarré, Anh Nguyen, Dominik Buhl, Katharina Schramm

Photography
Andreas J. Focke, Munich
Zooey Braun, Stuttgart
Christoph Matthias, Munich