The lighting design company XAL’s new UK showroom headquarters have recently been completed. The project was carried out in collaboration with the Austrian practice Innocad Architektur ZT. The concept here was to provide a semi-public and light flooded office environment on the ground floor forming a strongconnection with the street level. In order to achieve this a natural light blocking wall has been replaced with a semi-translucent graphic screen which also forms an abstract backdrop to the shop window. Visitors descend down a bright white resin coated staircase, that also doubles as a sitting opportunity for lectures. It is here where they find different zones (lounge, retail, public, living & offi ce) that put dedicated lighting products on display. Rooms and niches have been created to present the fast amount of different fittings in an intimate and yet glamorous way. The industrial looking space has been juxtaposed with high quality light fittings and other sleek surfaces and furniture. Steps and differentiated fi nishes enhance this experience three-dimensionally. In addition large graphics show completed architectural projects that have utilised the product range in a successful way.