Among the projects of lighting designer Piero Castiglioni is the Hotel Nhow in Milan, in collaboration with architect Matteo Thun. Lighting design only deals with the outdoor lighting part. Integrating light and architecture therefore in this case also means working with shadows, with darkness, sometimes creating a lot of contrast: an emotional use of light becomes important here, as does a correct selection of what to illuminate, which architectural details and which materials to enhance. The lighting of the façades makes the buildings visible in the urban space and creates orientation. This hotel is designed with the vocation of the gallery hotel in mind. The Tortona industrial area in Milan, has become a fashion and design district, maintaining its original character with disused factories renovated into showrooms, workshops, creative studios and lofts for living. The General Electric factory has been renovated. Inside it has been converted into a hotel, multifunctional exhibition spaces for shows, fashion shows, events, exhibitions. On the outside, it has maintained the original volumes, the shed roof, the grey plaster of the external walls has been lightened by the large glass surfaces of the windows, the protagonists of the architectural outdoor lighting. The design of building lights external façades and courtyards has been entrusted solely to the windows outlined by a blue light beam provided by luminaires with LEDs of the same colour, with controlled "fan-shaped" light emission.
Project:
Lighting Design Piero Castiglioni
Collaborations:
Matteo Thun & Partners
Photo courtesy:
iGuzzini Lighting
Year:
2006
Among the projects of lighting designer Piero Castiglioni is the Hotel Nhow in Milan, in collaboration with architect Matteo Thun. Lighting design only deals with the outdoor lighting part. Integrating light and architecture therefore in this case also means working with shadows, with darkness, sometimes creating a lot of contrast: an emotional use of light becomes important here, as does a correct selection of what to illuminate, which architectural details and which materials to enhance. The lighting of the façades makes the buildings visible in the urban space and creates orientation. This hotel is designed with the vocation of the gallery hotel in mind. The Tortona industrial area in Milan, has become a fashion and design district, maintaining its original character with disused factories renovated into showrooms, workshops, creative studios and lofts for living. The General Electric factory has been renovated. Inside it has been converted into a hotel, multifunctional exhibition spaces for shows, fashion shows, events, exhibitions. On the outside, it has maintained the original volumes, the shed roof, the grey plaster of the external walls has been lightened by the large glass surfaces of the windows, the protagonists of the architectural outdoor lighting. The design of building lights external façades and courtyards has been entrusted solely to the windows outlined by a blue light beam provided by luminaires with LEDs of the same colour, with controlled "fan-shaped" light emission.
Project:
Lighting Design Piero Castiglioni
Collaborations:
Matteo Thun & Partners
Photo courtesy:
iGuzzini Lighting
Year:
2006
Other Projects
This section presents a representative selection of lighting design projects by Piero Castiglioni, developed across architectural, museum, urban, cultural, retail, hospitality, and infrastructural contexts, both in Italy and internationally. The gallery documents a range of interventions differing in scale, function, and context, united by an approach to light as a tool for interpreting space—capable of engaging with architecture, artworks, landscape, and contemporary use.
The featured projects span museums, foundations, and temporary exhibitions, as well as historic buildings, places of worship, public spaces, and urban complexes, extending to corporate headquarters, private residences, yachts, and lighting masterplans. In each project, light is conceived as a design material—carefully controlled and calibrated in relation to the specific characteristics of the site, functional requirements, and the perceptual quality of the experience.
Taken together, these works outline a vision of lighting design as an integrated process, where technical rigor, cultural sensitivity, and contextual awareness contribute to shaping identity, orientation, and spatial value. The gallery thus becomes a design map, illustrating how light can assume different roles—subtle or expressive—while consistently maintaining coherence, precision, and design awareness.
Other Projects
This section presents a representative selection of lighting design projects by Piero Castiglioni, developed across architectural, museum, urban, cultural, retail, hospitality, and infrastructural contexts, both in Italy and internationally. The gallery documents a range of interventions differing in scale, function, and context, united by an approach to light as a tool for interpreting space—capable of engaging with architecture, artworks, landscape, and contemporary use.
The featured projects span museums, foundations, and temporary exhibitions, as well as historic buildings, places of worship, public spaces, and urban complexes, extending to corporate headquarters, private residences, yachts, and lighting masterplans. In each project, light is conceived as a design material—carefully controlled and calibrated in relation to the specific characteristics of the site, functional requirements, and the perceptual quality of the experience.
Taken together, these works outline a vision of lighting design as an integrated process, where technical rigor, cultural sensitivity, and contextual awareness contribute to shaping identity, orientation, and spatial value. The gallery thus becomes a design map, illustrating how light can assume different roles—subtle or expressive—while consistently maintaining coherence, precision, and design awareness.
