SLT Asia has announced completion of the biggest OLED lighting project in Southeast Asia after installing 1680 Philips Lumiblade OLED tiles in the Providence VIP Club located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The solid-state lighting (SSL) project provides a dynamic experience for customers at the high-end night club, but also surely came at significant cost. Still, the owners seem pleased with the results that couldn’t be achieved with other light sources including LEDs.

OLEDs generate inherently diffuse light from a planar surface. But roadblocks have limited the size of panels that manufacturers can produce today, and even the relatively small tiles available are still much more costly than even LED-based lighting. The Providence project uses 74×74-mm tiles.

Indeed, the scale of the project is impressive and costly. "When we saw OLEDs in action we knew it was wildly different and a perfect centerpiece to complement Providence’s VIP clubbing experience," said Providence owner Ashwin Prakash. "It is an investment that few would make, but we believe in adopting new technologies in our clubs to enhance the VIP experience. Our guests are enamored by the lights."

It`s unlikely we can get a precise answer on the cost of the system. Last year in our Illumination in Focus publication, we covered a compelling OLED installation at the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Berlin, Germany. That German project cost in the $126,000 range according to Philips communications specialist Dietmar Thomas and used 384 OLEDs.

In that aforementioned article, Thomas projected as much as a six or seven to one drop in OLED panel costs by the end of 2013 relative to mid-2012. Without question prices have dropped, but the 1680-tile installation is bigger than the bank project by a considerable margin. Moreover, more expensive controls for dynamic light shows are involved.

SLT Asia stated that they had delivered the project at a cost lower than industry norms. "Providence asked us if we could build the OLED system at an economical price," said SLT Asia managing director Sebastien Jurkowski. "Owing to our solid and reliable engineering, we delivered the installation at a quarter the typical cost."

As the nearby photos and the video at the bottom of the page illustrate, the results of the project are dramatic. "The installation at the club is a very good example that the owner has understood what OLED lighting offers and what can be done with it," said Philips` Thomas. "The theme was ‘shaping light in the air,’ which could only have been possible with OLEDs." SLT`s Jurkowski added, "This installation balances technical skill and artistic finesse."

Providence is located in the high-end Intermark development in Kuala Lumpur. The site includes two office towers, a hotel intended for business travelers, and a variety of retail and hospitality businesses including Providence.