The Secret to Beautiful Lighting in Grand Spaces? Layers.

Case Study: Il Primo, Downtown Dubai

At JPD, we recently completed our first project in Il Primo, one of the most prestigious residential towers in Downtown Dubai. Located directly adjacent to the Dubai Opera, the residence boasts sweeping, front-row views of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountain—a cinematic tableau that becomes the natural backdrop to daily life.

But it wasn’t just the view that set this project apart. The scale of the open-plan living and dining area—with its soaring ceilings, uninterrupted floorplate, and absence of interior partitions—presented both a challenge and an opportunity. In a space this vast, traditional lighting techniques quickly fall short. Overhead lighting alone leaves the room feeling sterile. A scattering of decorative fixtures lacks cohesion. What’s required is not simply illumination, but orchestration.

This is where the art and science of layered lighting comes in.

Understanding Layered Lighting: The Architecture of Atmosphere

In grand spaces—penthouses, open-plan villas, or residences like Il Primo—lighting plays a central role in shaping the experience of the room. It defines zones, sets mood, and adds warmth, especially where scale can easily overpower intimacy.

Layered lighting refers to the strategic use of multiple lighting sources across different heights, functions, and intensities to create depth, ambiance, and visual structure. Let’s explore each layer and how they interact in a space like Il Primo:

1. Foundation Layer: Recessed Ceiling Lights & Spots

This is your ambient canvas. Recessed lighting washes the space with uniform brightness, eliminating shadows and providing essential visibility. But in large rooms, it’s easy to overdo. Too many downlights make a home feel like a showroom; too few, and areas fall flat.

In Il Primo, we used discreet, low-glare recessed LEDs to provide a soft, even glow across the ceiling plane. Directional spotlights were used strategically to highlight architectural details, art walls, and drapery folds, guiding the eye and enhancing textures.

2. Mid-Level Mood: Floor Lamps & Sculptural Light Objects

The second layer operates at the human scale—seated height. Floor lamps add personality, warmth, and an element of design theatre. In vast living rooms, they break up visual monotony and become part of the room’s composition.

For Il Primo, we selected oversized sculptural floor lamps with marble bases and brushed brass stems to echo the material palette. Placed between seating clusters, these lights introduce soft pools of light that anchor social areas and offer flexibility across day and night use.

3. Eye-Level Character: Table Lamps, Sconces & Accent Lighting

This is where texture and intimacy live. Table lamps on sideboards, console tables, and occasional surfaces introduce localized, human-scale lighting that warms the room without dominating it.

Wall-mounted sconces or art lights add a touch of old-world glamour, especially when paired with mirrors or reflective surfaces. At Il Primo, custom mirror-backed sconces enhanced the interplay of light and reflection, bouncing light back into the space and creating the illusion of even more openness.

4. Statement Layer: Chandeliers & Pendants

Nothing defines a space like a well-scaled pendant or chandelier. These fixtures draw the eye upward, introduce drama, and help define functional zones within a vast footprint.

In Il Primo’s double-height great room, we designed a custom linear chandelier suspended above the dining area—delicately balanced, yet bold enough to hold its own against the backdrop of the Burj. It floats like an installation, illuminating the table while serving as a sculptural centrepiece.

Above the seating area, a separate layered pendant system provided a visual break in ceiling height, creating a sense of enclosure within the openness.

5. The Invisible Layer: Cove Lighting & Integrated LED Strips

Integrated lighting is the final layer that elevates good lighting to great design. Hidden LED strips beneath floating shelves, behind headboards, or within ceiling coves offer an ethereal glow that makes the architecture itself appear to radiate light.

We implemented warm-tone cove lighting around the perimeter of the ceiling in Il Primo, casting a gentle upward glow and creating a halo effect at night. These invisible sources reduce reliance on direct light and add a soft visual ambience that feels inherently luxurious.

6. Control is Everything: Dimmers, Scenes & Smart Lighting

Lighting is not static. The same room must serve different moods—morning brightness, evening softness, cocktail-hour drama.

Every lighting layer at Il Primo was integrated into a smart control system, allowing for seamless transitions between scenes. Dimmers, app-controlled settings, and voice-activated systems gave the homeowners the ability to tune the space at any moment—enhancing both utility and luxury.

The Takeaway: Orchestrating Light, Not Just Installing It

The result at Il Primo is a masterclass in restraint and precision. Rather than overwhelming the home with lighting fixtures, we let the architecture and volume speak, using lighting as a subtle language of atmosphere, rhythm, and emotion.

In any grand space—whether a city penthouse or a modern beachfront villa—lighting should never be an afterthought. It is the framework upon which the entire experience rests.

At JPD, we compose with light as much as with form or texture. And in doing so, we transform scale into serenity, and square footage into soul.