In the middle of Berlin‘s historic newspaper district, the Axel-Springer-Passage was created, a new forum for dialogue and communication. The centre of this is the „Mittelbar“. This is a restaurant facility with a 14-metre-long block of basalt as a counter, two water pools with tropical fish and projection screens for multimedia presentations.

The illumination plan was a special challenge. The imposing room height was to shed glare-free light onto the tables and counter areas. The form and material quality of the lighting devices were intended to harmonise with the furnishings of black basalt and black leather.

The solution that was adopted was pendant luminaires made of trilaminate black glass. The inside of the black glass luminaires is made of white opal glass. Brilliant white light from the lamp is reflected downwards. The outer layer of black frosted glass subdues the light of the lamp, deflecting it to the side and showing a fascinating colour spectrum from jet black to discreet dark blue.