'Heathrow's Terminal Five currently houses the world’s largest controlled-lighting system, featuring 2,600 sensors designed to automatically switch off when no motion is detected. […] Earlier this year […] it was named best airport terminal building in the World Airport Awards, organised by Skytrax, an aviation research organisation.'
A beautiful controlled-lighting system … that nobody thought of how to reach the light bulbs in order to replace them.
'Sixty per cent of the 120,000 light bulbs at Terminal Five have blown yet not a single one has been changed since 2008, faced with “no viable way to replace them”, according to O’Brien. Various ways of replacing them have been investigated, including gondolas and high-level cherry pickers, none of which were deemed “practical or safe”.'
It's gotten so bad, they've had to bring in "contingency lighting" in order to illuminate the place.
The current proposed solution is a specialty company "using ‘Cirque du Soleil-style’ high-level rope work". They'll be replacing all the bulbs with LEDs, which should last substantially longer.
Now, it's easy to point and laugh, but it's also the sort of mistake that's so easy to make — designing for beauty, designing for function, even designing for energy savings … but not designing for maintainability. But a project that can't be sustained afterwards is a failed project, no matter how many other functional requirements it meets or exceeds.
It's certainly something we're trying to keep in mind in our kitchen remodel …
Heathrow seeks high-wire walkers to change light bulbs – Telegraph
Heathrow will require high-wire artists to change the light bulbs at Terminal Five which have not been replaced in more than five years
Reminds me of the replicated light off the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles that was near to blinding folks. Fabulous building design=good; blinding drivers and people if surrounding office buildings=bad.
Umm.. autocorrect ‘replicated’ should’ve been reflected.
Oops.
Are you kidding? We deliberately build our houses in a manner that requires actually ripping open the walls for anything beyond minor maintenance on vital systems (plumbing, electrical, sewer, etc). I’ve had cars that involved major disassembly just to change the air filter. This sort of thing is more like a way of life than a mistake. And don’t get me started on appliances and electronics.
All good points @paintedjaguar — in this case, though, it’s regarding something that one normally thinks of as maintainable, which, as it turned out, it was not. Like discovering the hot water heater was buried under the slab.
Cherry pickers “Not Safe”? I know its one of the busiest airports in the world, but really, no one can plan around that? Ive just checked FlightRadar24 (don’t ask why I’m up at 3:15) and there is ONE plane on it over LHR! Really they can’t get a cherry picker in?