Exterior Facade and Surrounding Area Lighting Upgrade Project of Independence Palace, Tashkent

Project Overview

This lighting renovation project is located in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. Independence Palace serves as a national landmark for state affairs and celebrations, hosting state visits, grand ceremonies and national conferences. It is a monumental building with grand arched portico, symmetrical long facade, two side wings and a huge ceremonial square in front, surrounded by lawns and landscape walkways, standing as the core landmark of Tashkent.

Before renovation, ageing lighting equipment led to insufficient illumination on the arched portico and building base, resulting in a weak night visual effect. The average illuminance of the front ceremonial square and surrounding walkways was only 8–12 lux. Low illuminance on some landscape paths brought safety risks for security patrols and visitors. The lighting upgrade covers the main facade, arched portico, base walls and side wings of Independence Palace, including the front large ceremonial square, circular landscape walkways and landscape nodes. The total renovated plaza area is approximately 38,000㎡, and the total length of circular walkways is about 1,320m.

In the lighting design, linear wall-washers are installed on the main facade, arched walls, side wings and building base to deliver uniform lighting, restore wall texture and create continuous facade light effect. Floodlights are applied to the main entrance portico, roof cornices and iconic vertical structures to form visual focus and highlight the grand night temperament of the palace. Bollard lights and low landscape lights are equipped in the square and walkways for basic passage lighting. Warm-white static lighting is adopted throughout the scheme without colour or dynamic effects to match the solemn and elegant style of national palace architecture.

Local Environmental Conditions

Tashkent has temperate continental climate with large seasonal temperature difference. It suffers intense heat in summer and low temperature in winter with obvious day-night temperature gap. The air is dry with frequent sand and dust and strong winds. Outdoor lighting fixtures must tolerate extreme temperature change, dust and sand. The sealing structure needs to prevent sand intrusion while maintaining stable lighting performance under dust accumulation and temperature alternation.

Security patrols run all year round on the square of Independence Palace, receiving foreign guests and local visitors. The pedestrian flow surges during major ceremonies. The lighting system needs all-weather stable operation, balancing landmark facade lighting and safety illumination for the large public square.

Project Objectives

1. Raise the average illuminance of ceremonial square and circular landscape walkways from 8–12 lux before renovation to 23–29 lux, improving safety for night security patrols and visitors.
2. Achieve illuminance uniformity of ≥0.70 in core ceremonial zone to eliminate dark areas and hot spots.
3. Use linear wall-washers to evenly light the main facade, arched portico, base and side walls; deploy floodlights to accent the main entrance portico, cornices and iconic architectural structures.
4. Apply unified warm-white static lighting without coloured or flickering dynamic lights, preserving the solemn and elegant night style of national palace.
5. Control the annual luminaire failure rate within ≤3%, adapting to large temperature difference, frequent dust, cold winter and hot summer outdoor environment of Tashkent.
6. Reduce later maintenance workload by approximately 60%–64%, cutting labour cost for inspection, fixture replacement and dust cleaning.
7. Support daily night security and sightseeing, capable of accommodating about 3,100 people for passage and activities every night.

Project Outcomes

After handover, the average illuminance of ceremonial square and circular walkways reaches 26 lux, within the target range of 23–29 lux. The illuminance uniformity of core ceremonial zone hits 0.74, meeting the requirement ≥0.70. Wall-washers fully cover the main facade, arched portico and base walls of Independence Palace with soft and even light. Floodlights highlight the main entrance and roof cornices, fully presenting the magnificent night outline of the palace and greatly boosting city landmark recognition.

The lighting system runs stably under local large temperature difference and dusty environment. Fixtures have reliable dustproof sealing, resisting sand intrusion without massive lumen depreciation. The measured annual luminaire failure rate is 2.5%, below the 3% target. The workload of inspection, fixture replacement and dust cleaning maintenance drops by 63% compared with the old system, meeting the maintenance optimization goal.

The night scene uses unified warm-white static light. Wall-washers softly show the texture of building facade, floodlights set off the grand sense of main entrance, and continuous stable lighting is provided for square walkways. This project realizes integrated lighting upgrade for national palace facade and large public plaza, and becomes a benchmark lighting renovation case for large government palaces in Central Asia.