Set in the dramatic interior of a disused steelworks, Magna is a series of interactive exhibition pavilions themed around the elements needed for making steel: air, water, earth and fire.

Light – and indeed darkness – play a crucial role in supporting the exhibition, recreating a sense of the drama and danger of the original plant. Illumination is kept to a low level to increase the sense of adventure. In 2001 Magna won the prestigious Stirling Prize for Architecture. The judges commented:

The primary background lighting is a monochromatic red, reminiscent of both rust and the heat of molten steel, which smoulders in the dark interior. The individual pavilions are allowed to glow against this background. The Water Pavilion, at ground level, is picked out with a blue halo against a cyan back glow. Internally, all the walls are animated by gentle rippling movements, created by lights focused through suspended water tanks and reflections from fan-blown foil strips.

Inside the Fire Pavilion, programmable wallwashers produce flickering orange light. The Air Pavilion, which appears suspended in space, is lit by sky colours, animated by slowly moving cloud projections, which speed up as a ‘storm’ approaches. Below, the half-buried Earth Pavilion glows white, while inside the visitor walks through striated shadows and strobing hazard lights.

The exterior lighting is limited to the uplighting of a few industrial artefacts. The building is left dark and brooding, picked out only by a network of red beacons that announce its presence from a distance.