Located at the prime intersection of Tran Duy Hung and Pham Hung in Hanoi, Sunshine Center is a premium mixed use development comprising a shopping mall, Grade A office spaces, and luxury residences. With its contemporary European inspired architecture and sophisticated reflective glass façade, the building demanded a lighting solution that would deliver both refined aesthetics and outstanding performance. After dark, the objective was clear: to establish Sunshine Center as a distinctive luminous landmark within the surrounding urban landscape.

Shaping an Urban Landmark After Dark – Façade Lighting

Sunshine Center features an extensively reflective glass façade, presenting a significant challenge for exterior architectural lighting.

Without careful control, light interacting with reflective surfaces can create excessive glare, distracting reflections, and even light pollution affecting neighbouring buildings. For BFROS, however, this challenge became an opportunity to develop a more sophisticated lighting approach.

• We selected a linear lighting strategy, using slender LED lines to trace the architectural contours of the building, much like light outlining the facets of a precious gemstone. Uplights positioned at the base of the façade were carefully calibrated in terms of beam angle and intensity, preventing direct glare toward pedestrians while allowing the light to gently graze the building surface and create a greater sense of visual depth.

• As night falls, the building appears to glow from within. Light reveals and defines its architectural volumes, creating the impression that the structure itself is radiating a subtle aura. There is no visual noise and no excessive use of animated colours, only carefully controlled light, precisely positioned and delivered at the appropriate intensity.

Arrival Experience – Where Light Becomes a Welcome

The lobby of Sunshine Center was conceived with the ambience and sophistication of a five star hotel.

Lighting in this space serves two essential purposes: communicating a sense of luxury while simultaneously creating an atmosphere of comfort, calm, and reassurance.

A contemporary crystal chandelier forms the visual centrepiece. Yet the true difference lies in the carefully designed high CRI recessed lighting system.

Fixture positions, beam angles, and light distribution were meticulously considered to minimise unwanted shadows beneath the eyes and across the faces of guests and reception staff.

Beautiful lighting is, in many ways, the most refined form of “makeup” for architecture and for the people who experience it.

Lighting and Consumer Behaviour in the Shopping Mall

• Within the retail areas, lighting serves a purpose far beyond basic visibility. It becomes a subtle yet powerful sales tool.

BFROS worked closely with interior architects and the operational team to ensure that every retail unit received an appropriate ambient lighting foundation while maintaining sufficient flexibility for individual brands to develop their own visual identities.

• Adjustable track lighting with CRI ≥ 90 is integrated into discreet track systems, allowing precise accent lighting to be directed toward merchandise without visually flattening the space.

Luxury brands understand one principle particularly well: customers perceive products, materials, colours, and spaces differently under different qualities of light. The right lighting therefore becomes an essential part of the retail experience.

Offices & Residences – From Performance to Emotion

• In the office areas, the lighting system was developed with reference to EN 12464-1 requirements, balancing direct ceiling illumination and indirect lighting to support visual comfort and reduce eye strain.

Lighting scenarios are programmed according to different periods of the day: softer illumination at the beginning of the morning, neutral white light during periods requiring greater focus, followed by gradually reduced intensity toward the evening. This approach helps create a lighting environment that responds more naturally to the human daily rhythm.

• Within the luxury residences, lighting becomes the “scriptwriter” for different moments of everyday life.

A romantic evening may be defined by warm indirect lighting. A quiet reading session can be supported by comfortable 4000K downlighting with carefully controlled glare. Or the experience may be as simple as returning home and being gently welcomed by a sensor activated line of light that illuminates progressively with each step.

Here, lighting is no longer simply a technical system. It becomes part of the emotional experience of living.

Conclusion – Transforming Value into Experience Through Light

Sunshine Center is a project that further reinforces BFROS’s belief in a fundamental lighting philosophy:

Light is not simply something we switch on in order to see.

It is what allows architecture to be perceived, spaces to be experienced, and people to feel that they are exactly where they belong, at exactly the right moment.