Highly efficient and standard - compliant office workplace lighting - with track as a flexible basis.
Uniform glare ratio less than 19
Over 10,000 additional housing and louver colors in RAL and NCS color systems
Discover the Jilly Track Light is the fourth dimension of architecture
Terminal 5, JFK International Airport, New York, NY
“The Canyon,” Salt Lake City Airport; Architect: HOK; Photography: Salt Lake City International AirportThe Canyon art installation by Gordon Huether; elliptipar® S315 Cove
Partners
JetBlue Terminal 5, JFK Airport, NYC, New York; Architect: Gensler; Lighting Design: Fisher Marantz Stone Partners; Photography: Turner Construction; elliptipar® customs
Polizeizentrale Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Design and Photography: Robert Jan Vos Lichtontwerp, Hilversum; MEYER® Arclux
Ticketing Area
Plan: 70’ wide (bulkhead-to-bulkhead) x 700’ long
Estimated power density: 0.9 W/sf
Heights: Ceiling deck slopes from 26’ to 39’, supported by 5’ trusses
Lighting: (42) nominal 12’ runs of MOD Style F139 uplights with 3x54W T5HO cross-sectional lamping in each 4’ module; (85)F308-T255-S-00-2-00-0 dual-reflector 8’ cove lights concealed on top of 12’ tall entry vestibules
Estimated illuminances: 40 fc avg. initial on ceiling; 18 fcai on floor
Mukilteo Ferry Terminal; Mukileto, WA; Architect: LMN Architects; Lighting Design: The Lighting Group; Photography: Jon Dickson; elliptipar® S175
electriX® iLas® Pocket Framing for Wall Washing, 6" and 3.75" aperture
elliptipar® G417, G514, G516, G518 Upper Air Continuous Linear Germicidal
elliptipar® S409 & S410: Large Ensconce® up to 82000 lumens
Arclux RGBW
Union Station Great Hall, Chicago, IL; Architect: Goettsch Partners; Lighting: Charter Sills; Photography: ©Amtrak; elliptipar® S317 and S318
James R, Benya,
By Randy Reid and Katie
By Mark Rea, PhD
Randy Reid and Katie
By Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP
By combining a suite of customizable features with our highest performing LED modules yet, the DCC Cylinder Series provides brilliant illumination and beautiful design versatile enough for whatever your project needs. The DCC centers around a modular LED lighting system, so it’s easy to specify, install and maintain.
Jacob Wright
By Stef Schwalb
By Amy D Lux
Stef Schwalb
Don Peifer
%
Install more lights in less time with TCP’s prewired, quick-connect Pro Line Panels. The slim, lightweight design is easy to maneuver and quickly slips into place.
Editorial Director: Randy Reid
Publisher: Cliff Smith
There is a lot that goes into creating each issue of designing lighting (dl) We work diligently to deliver meaningful content to our audience of now just over 10,000 subscribers.
Director of Audience Development: Angie Hullfish
Scouting for previously unpublished first-class lighting designs is a full-time effort, and once in a while with a stroke of good luck, things just fall into place. It wasn’t just the LA Rams that had a little luck, designing lighting (dl) had some, too!
Contributing Writers:
James Benya PE, FIES, FIALD Principal at Design Services, Inc. and The Benya Burnett Consultancy
Craig Dilouie Principal at ZING Communications
Stefanie Schwalb
Hospitality Lighting Contributor Interim Managing Editor at Boston Magazine
Staff Writers:
Katie Smith Jacob Wright
Published by EdisonReport
1726C General George Patton Dr. Brentwood, TN 37027
Phone: 615-371-0961 designinglighting.com
designing lighting is focused on the Business of Lighting Design™ and provides business information to the lighting design community. In addition to the website, designing lighting publishes bi-monthly online magazines featuring original content, interviews within the community and highlights successful award winning lighting designs. While designing lighting is based in the U.S., it has contributors from Europe and is developing a global presence. (ISSN 2693-9223)
Statements and opinions expressed in articles and editorials in dl are the expressions of contributors and do not necessarily represent the policies or opinions of the EdisonReport. Advertisements appearing in the publication are the sole responsibility of the advertiser.
HLW Design in New York and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHHM) in London are two of the world’s leading architect firms. We are pleased to present the lighting design of both their headquarters as well as a large WeWork project.
In researching content for this issue, we considered the role of portable lighting and tax credits in the office space. Neither HLW Design nor AHHM had much portable lighting, but WeWork did.
We are learning that portable lighting is a trend in offices in part due to tax advantages. To understand this further, we reached out to Dave Pfund, Senior Vice President, Research and Product Management at the Lighting Quotient. Dave is co-inventor of the company’s tambient® lighting solutions, and he explained how depreciation works in favor of portable lighting. Under current law, portable lighting purchases can be fully depreciated, i.e. written off, in one year. This 100% bonus depreciation is being phased out in steps for portable equipment placed in service in calendar years 2023 through 2027. Thus, an 80% bonus will apply to equipment placed in service in 2023, 60% in 2024 and so on until the bonus ends in 2027. Still, the remaining portable lighting investments during these years and beyond will continue to enjoy the standard accelerated 7-year depreciation tax benefit for qualifying business property.
Dave explained that currently every $100,000 spent on portable lighting delivers a $21,000 tax reduction in Year 1 compared to a $517 tax reduction for hardwired.
We believe that quality lighting should stand on its own, without the tax breaks, but for the next few years, it will be hard to ignore the extra benefit of bonus depreciation, not to mention the added flexibility portable lighting provides as workplaces are re-imagined for the post-pandemic return to the office.
Decorative lighting adds 'eye candy' to the architectural space.
JAMES R. BENYA, PE, FIES, FIALD By
The original edition of this article was published in 1993 in Architectural Record in cahoots with my long-time editor, Charles Linn FAIA. In 2007 my friend and colleague Tom Scott encouraged me to re-publish it in Architectural Lighting, as he had found it helpful in his work. Recently retired from Acuity Brands, Tom worked a career in the jewelry of architecture. To him, I dedicate this, what will probably be the final edition.
In the nearly 30 years since the first edition, there have been two significant shifts in the practice of lighting design. The first is the profound impact of LEDs, which are now the only light source for almost everything in lighting. Many see the LED revolution as simply replacing legacy light sources in everyday applications, but frankly, there are design opportunities unleashed by LEDs that transcend the collective history of lighting design. The second significant shift is the complete transition to a next generation of lighting designers, of whose opportunities I am envious.
In the practice of architectural lighting, one discovers, sooner or later, that lighting design is best described and designed by layers of light, an approach in which principal lighting requirements are addressed separately before being coordinated into a unified composition. Depending on the designer and the project, the number of layers may be as
many as eight, but for most projects, there are four classic layers that have served lighting designers in both architecture and the theatre for generations.
The first layer, “ambient light”, also called “fill light”, is non-focal, general illumination. The amount and type of ambient lighting helps establish the basic mood or 'ambience' of a space. It does not usually create visual interest. The second layer is the “task light”, dedicated to the principal activities of a space. In rooms where tasks such as reading or manufacturing predominate, this layer provides visual interest. The third layer, called focal or “key” light, is dedicated to illuminating displays in a space. In rooms where displays dominate, this layer creates visual interest.
This article is about the fourth layerdecorative lighting. Its primary role is to attract the eye in order to establish or reinforce the architectural design or theme. Decorative lighting may also provide ambient, task, or focal lighting in the process. For historic and classical lighting design, these four layers are essential, and they work well for projects of all generations, whether new or renovation and restoration.
Surely, decorative lighting has evolved over time, often as part of the architectural details of a given period. For practical reasons involving the use of flame as a light source, most historic luminaires included some type of transparent, translucent, or perforated enclosure and venting. To this day, many traditional luminaire styles tend to embody these characteristics, since their original purpose also suits electric lighting. We tend to use historic lighting terminology today to describe decorative lighting even if it is modern.
Chandelier: A French word meaning literally 'holder of candles,' chandeliers illuminated large and grand spaces, often employing elaborate lowering mechanisms so that dozens of candles could be lit from the floor. We tend to associate chandeliers today with suspended decorative lighting that plays a formal ornamental role.
Pendant: A word meaning 'hanging ornament,' primarily applying to jewelry and lighting. A broader classification of luminaires in which chandeliers could also be included, though generally describing a decorative class that is less formal and, often, less expensive.
Sconce: From the French word esconce, literally meaning 'holder of light,' this term is only used today to describe an ornamental wall fixture.
Lantern: A traditional word suggesting a more utilitarian light mounted to a post, wall, or arm, lantern is typically associated with ornamental and themed lighting.
Lamp: A historic word still associated with portable lighting of classic construction, lamp often takes an adjective like 'floor' or 'table.'
In current terms, we also use practically rooted terminology, based on how the luminaire is mounted - for instance, track, wall bracket, or string light. Or where the luminaire is seated - pier light or post light. Or where the luminaire is located - ceiling light or streetlight.
Prior to the invention of the electric lamp, the enormous challenges of managing fire limited the world of decorative lighting until the 20th century. With early incandescent lamps, electric versions of traditional and historic gas and candle luminaires were among the first to occur, but soon the industrial era of the twentieth century produced a number of appealing products. For instance, some fixtures of this era take their names from the original manufacturer, like Holophane (ribbed glass) or Abolite (industrial metal shades) that even today are favorites for adaptive reuse and edgy loft products. In
other cases, the function of the luminaire, such as “vaportight”, floodlight or “acorn”, has become handy language to describe a specific class and style.
Modernism squashed decorative lighting for a time, but the “post modernism” movement renewed interest in decorative lighting on many levels. Sconces and pendants were the first to emerge in the 1970’s and 1980’s with contemporary styling at first reminiscent of Art Deco, along with modern task lights and table lamps, many of which can be found in museums today. The compact fluorescent lamp was instrumental in bringing decorative lighting back into design in the 1980’s and helped make appealing designs for energycode compliant projects.
LEDs have changed everything. No longer tethered to hot lamps, the heavyduty electrical requirements of legacy light sources, and the appurtenant costs, decorative lighting enjoys renewed enthusiasm and creativity. Modernized versions of classical types and fresh new ideas abound. Here are some thoughts on successful design approaches.
I think of decorative lighting as the 'jewelry of architecture.' The principal role of jewelry is to ornament and 'catch the eye'; in modern lighting, it is no different. Like jewelry, the style and design of decorative lighting sends many messages about a project. For instance, a crystal chandelier is traditional, formal, and elegant. An onyx or alabaster bowl chandelier is transitional, semi-formal, and tasteful. A deer antler chandelier is themed, semi-informal, and playful. A glass and metal wall sconce is modern, formal, and contemporary. When it comes to making an architectural statement, lighting is to architecture as jewelry is to dress - it stands out and begs to be looked at first.
But like jewelry, there are some conventions and well-learned design concepts that work best. Consider the following:
Locating Decorative Lighting
The use and location of decorative lighting is often driven by aesthetic expectations. It helps to use tradition as a starting point; assume there will be a chandelier over the dining room table, a pendant light over the breakfast table, a table lamp by the bed, and sconces in a hotel corridor. While it is acceptable to design a dining room without a chandelier, there is a cultural expectation for such a piece; its absence would give the space a different feeling. The visitor's eye will be forced to seek
other visual interest, such as architectural details, artwork, silverware, or stemware.
Two especially important aspects of decorative lighting are sparkle and glow. Sparkle usually refers to small areas of relatively high brightness. If the source becomes too large, sparkle quickly becomes glare. Take, for instance, lamps in a crystal chandelier. As long as the wattage is low, or the chandelier hung high enough, the result will be pleasant. But increase the size of the lamp or proximity to it, and glare will occur. Glow is a large area of brightness that is not glare. To prevent glare, the brightness of the luminaire must be balanced with the luminance of the room, and, especially, with the surface against which it is seen. Many lighting designers favor hanging a chandelier within a ceiling coffer that is uplighted from a cove or from concealed lighting atop the chandelier. This reveals the beauty of the chandelier while creating an effective indirect light source that casts more light than that radiating from the apparent luminaire.
Achieving the Right Ambience “Eye-level glow” is the clever technique of employing a glowing luminaire at or below the horizon line. In this approach, a table or floor lamp draws the eye down to where the visual tasks and interest occur. The coziness and warmth of a living room or bar is often the result of carefully placed luminaires below six feet, such as table or floor lamps. A shade prevents glare, allowing for a high-wattage lamp suitable as a reading light, without ruining the effect.
Used as other Layers Decorative fixtures can also provide ambient lighting. A favorite 'bargain' hotel ballroom design involves fitting a chandelier with concealed uplights, and separately circuited low-wattage lamps visible through a (seemingly) high-end diffuser, such as real (or faux) alabaster. The uplights can provide as much as 200 to 300 lux of general illumination, and when these are turned off, the lamps glowing through the diffuser might provide 20 to 50 lux that can be separately dimmed for an event.
Dress Up the Ordinary Decorative lighting can also enhance corridors and other spaces that usually employ only one lighting system. Too often these spaces are illuminated solely by downlights, or worse, troffers. Use ceiling decoratives or sconces, mixed with downlights (to prevent the overuse of ornamental luminaires), to easily improve the appearance and perception of quality in even the most ordinary space.
Other Layers Beyond providing appealing and functional illumination, some projects aspire to employ lighting to create artful effects or to become art itself. With the capabilities of LED lighting, the rendering of the architecture and structure of a building is a special opportunity that lighting designers seek. Approach these projects with caution and reverence, and make sure you have the funding and patience on the part of the owner and other design team members.
Custom Lighting The larger the decorative luminaire, the more likely a custom design will need to be considered. This is particularly true in important hospitality projects, like restaurants, hotels, and casinos, as well as for major civic projects, houses of worship, and the occasional corporate or office project. However, keep in mind that custom lighting is expensive, complicated, and can be surprisingly difficult, so proceed with caution. Working with a company that specializes in this type of product is tantamount. Before designing your own luminaire from scratch, make sure you have completely evaluated standard lines and products from companies that are accustomed to making custom variations of their cataloged offerings. Hint: unless you’re very skilled and have the budget, choose decorative luminaires, especially custom products, that use screw-based LED lamps. It will save both fixture costs and listing costs (remember that all lighting must be listed to UL standards), and once in the field, will give you tremendous flexibility to change lamp wattage and color temperature. And above all, avoid 'knocking off' existing designs; it is, at best, unfair to those who have invested their resources to develop the original product.
Common mistakes Its easy to over-do it. You will be tempted to place luminaires in inappropriate locations or in conflict with other decorative elements, or simply to use too many. For instance, sconces generally look best mounted at the 'third points,' meaning one-third of the height of the wall from either the ceiling or the floor. Along the wall, be careful - too many sconces can look overdone. Remember, the essence of good design is restraint (unless you are designing a casino, and then all bets are off).
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I encourage architects and interior designers, or in residential work the homeowner or decorator, to play a significant role in the choice of decorative lighting. Use your knowledge of design and illumination to take their choice and add the other layers to create the desired composition. That's good lighting design.
By
DESIGN TEAM
Jennifer Jenkins (Lighting)
Catherine Ward (Interior Design)
Ivan Aguirre (Architecture)
Teresa Wozniak (Art & Graphics)
LUMINAIRES
Undercabinet: Feelux, FLX Stix ND LED striplight
Uplighting: Lumenwerx, VIA 2 LED Pendant
Linear Track: Reggiani’s Yori Track Family
Pendant: FoxConn Office Pendant
Decorative Pendants: Graypants Lighting
Lattice Grid: Cooledge Lighting
In the midst of the ongoing pandemic, ‘working from home’ has become more and more common. Even with its growing popularity and accessibility, sometimes a change of environment encourages better workflow. That’s where WeWork comes into play. WeWork leases a commercial floor or an entire building and turns them into a community space for group and individual work areas, cultivating a refreshing and welcoming work environment outside of a traditional office design. WeWork, as one of the leading global workspace providers, is known for its well-designed, open-plan and multipurpose offices which are crafted with community, collaboration and productivity in mind.
At WeWork, lighting is an integral part of the company’s overarching global design playbook – thoughtfully crafted to encourage a productive, uplifting and comfortable workspace for its members. Across its global network of 700+
locations, the omnipresent signature lighting fixtures and neon signs aim to provide homage to the history of the building or local neighborhood. Also constant are the unique lighting setups highlighting different corners and illuminating different spaces in each location. The lighting is designed to be comfortable and motivating while supporting wellbeing.
I had the benefit of visiting (and working from) WeWork One Gotham, where the company occupies 11 floors of the 26-story building, central to Long Island City. Home to a diverse community of members from entrepreneurs and small startups to larger enterprise organizations, the space is vibrant, warm and buzzing with the sense of community.
There is no doubt, I felt a certain level of work electricity when sharing space with others, an energy that almost seemed contagious, making my afternoon
Sometimes a change of environment encourages better workflow.
at WeWork more productive than time spent in my home office or office-office.
The location of One Gotham is perfect, neighboring places such as Silvercup Studios, MoMa PS1, The Museum of Moving Image, and more. Additionally, the MTA subway station is less than a block away. The prime location makes ‘going to work’ feel a little less mundane, and a lot more thrilling.
The building is welcoming with natural light flowing from the large floor-to-ceiling windows and WeWork fully utilizes electric lighting as a tool to bring personality and atmosphere into the space. 3000K was utilized throughout the building.
Jenn Jenkins, head of the lighting team, aimed to utilize light to complement the architecture, interior material palette, and personality of each space in the building. In doing so, Jenn wanted to highlight the importance of how lighting impacts a positive, collective workspace. In the four years it took to complete the project, Jenn and her team worked closely with WeWork’s interior designers and architects to create a homogenous end result. The lights range from custom neon signs and under counter LEDs to decorative pendants with each serving to illuminate different corners of the office.
When entering the building, undercounter linear LED brightens up the unique look of the welcome desk, which has an unfinished Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF.) The desk is designed with a simple under counter linear LED 3000K strip by Feelux Lighting featuring 0-10V controls. The overhead track with direct and indirect lighting from Reggiani shine down on the desk, giving guidance to guests on where to begin.
Throughout the building there are continuous lines of light provided by Lumenwerx which provide accent against the raw, concrete industrial style walls. The goal is to not only bring texture but also add tonal visual interest to the wall. The island in the community kitchen space is similar to the welcome desk with the under counter LED, enhancing textures and tones on its light-wash brick. Above the kitchen space lies a wave-shaped neon light, designed by
WeWork’s inhouse art and graphic team. This wave is a fun addition that brings attention to the wood above the tile backsplash.
A challenge faced with the design is the double height space of the open loft style building. Being so large, it can be complicated to ensure that the space is filled with light in a way that doesn’t make it overwhelming. Originally the shades were manually controlled but having different shades at various levels throughout the day and evening created an untidy look. After studying the situation, WeWork’s lighting team simply locked the shades in place at the half way mark—letting enough light through while creating a warm and welcoming environment.
The long library, filled with natural light thanks to the large windows, is adorned with suspended pendent lighting from Graypants, adding a modern chic look to the space.
Rather than feeling trapped within the confines of an office, the large windows allow the outside to become one with the office providing an airy work space. Moving along, the individual nooks – which allow for concealed work and quiet conversations for individuals - are surrounded with up-light millwork details that highlight color and texture. These nooks are surrounded by greenery, giving a fresh and uplifting feel to the office. There is a ledge on the outside of the windows complete with a wide range of natural plants including several evergreens.
The greenery is right at eye-level and provides a calming effect looking across the river to Manhattan.
If a group meeting is required, WeWork also has a large classroom, complete with a back illuminated ceiling that has an intricate lattice grid. This ceiling creates light for the classroom space, providing a visually interesting, comfortable illuminance. Besides the classroom, there are also larger tables topped by decorative pendants lining the ceiling that allow multiple people to work together.
To prioritize visual comfort and wellbeing, the Lutron Vive system, installed throughout, provides preset scenes within the communal space. Vive also offers seamless integration to other building management systems (through BACnet). The building is complete with on-off occupancy sensors that control all the lights, allowing additional energy savings with daylight harvesting.
With locations all around the world, WeWork prioritizes creating an environment where there are workplace solutions, where ‘remote working’ doesn’t have to mean from your bed or a lap desk on your couch. It creates a place where workers from all fields can come and enjoy a community and feel inspired. The modern lighting designs, fitted to the time of the day and the size of the room, allow for a more relaxed environment than a traditional office with overhead lighting. ■
I Reconfigures easily as occupancy density evolves
I 1-year 100% depreciation for tax purposes
I Available with UV-C for after-hours work surface disinfection
I Exceptional visual comfort with personal task light controls
By
DR. MARK REA
A friend of mine once said, “The answer to every ’why‘ question is ‘money.’” I used that quote for many years until another friend added “and people,” because sometimes, love, friendship, and family are even more important. Circadian-effective lighting (bright days and dim nights) is about money and people.
For value-added businesses (money). Lighting is more and more becoming a commodity business, meeting current lighting standards and then competing on price. Value-added products are more profitable if the user is provided with a real benefit. Circadian-effective lighting is value-added because it demonstrably improves sleep.
For societal benefit (people). Bright days and dim nights promote better sleep. Good sleep is the foundation for better productivity and better health. Clearly and consistently articulating the benefit of bright days and dim nights will place lighting on par with the benefits of exercise and a healthy diet. Because it demonstrably improves sleep, circadian-effective lighting deserves a far more prominent place in the minds of politicians and the public.
For that to happen, however, everyone associated with the lighting industry has to stop waiting for standards organizations to make the first move, and we need to articulate light’s health benefits. We need to stop being our own worst enemy and quit hiding the health benefits in a folder of good ideas for a vaguely defined future. A quote from an old Pogo cartoon tells it all:
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
Pogo Possum
We need to understand, embrace and promote science.
The culture of the lighting industry is grounded in engineering, not science. Good engineering relies on good science, so the lighting industry cannot engineer “bright days and dim nights” unless they can be measured. Scientific understanding is developed through an unfettered peer-review process of research. Without published, peer-reviewed, quantitative research, science does not progress. Supporting peer-reviewed scientific research is critical for the lighting industry, even if it is not central to its engineering culture. We need to budget some time to understand the foundations for good engineering.
We need to know more, but that shouldn’t stop us.
Science is a never-ending process of developing a more complete understanding of natural phenomena. At a high level, the science is clear - bright days and dim nights promote better sleep. Do we need to know more? Sure. The amount, spectrum, distribution, duration, and timing of circadian-effective lighting are all important for delivering better sleep at night. But, we already know the most important aspects of circadian-effective lighting; from a current engineering perspective, systems should provide at least 350 lx of white light at the eye during the day and less than 30 lx of white light at the eye during the night. How to do that precisely, efficiently, and cost-effectively is not completely understood, but these uncertainties are second order and should not impede us from providing value-added products and societal benefit. We know enough now to make a real difference.
Prosecuting the case for circadian-effective lighting to building owners and to the public is like prosecuting a legal case. Unlike a criminal case where the jury must be unanimous in its decision of guilt or innocence, prosecuting the case for circadian-effective lighting is very much like a civil case, where only a majority of the jury, usually around 75%, must be persuaded. By this criterion, the evidence is clear — at least 75% of scientists believe bright days and dim nights promote better sleep. Now is the time for “civil” engineering to provide circadian-effective lighting. As new scientific insights are gained about circadian-effective lighting, new engineering and business opportunities will arise.
If the case for circadian-effective lighting is effectively and successfully prosecuted by each of us, the marketplace will bring money and people together to answer the “why” question posed earlier. We shouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to revolutionize lighting simply because it involves the nominal risk of changing lanes. To paraphrase another line often attributed to Pogo Possum, let’s not allow ourselves to be stymied by insurmountable opportunities.
"Let's not allow ourselves to be stymied by insurmountable opportunities."
By
In 2019 HLW, a worldwide architecture and interior design firm headquartered in New York City, made the move from Union Square to 5 Penn Plaza, a strategically compact space of about 25,000 square feet. The new office space marks the partnership’s seventh location in NYC since being founded in 1885 by Cyrus Eidlitz. They are thrilled to join the growth of the revitalized and energetic neighborhood near Moynihan Train Hall and Hudson Yards.
After nearly 30 years in their last location, HLW seized an opportunity to create a new space that reflects new work styles and technologies. In this 1916 building originally known as The Printing Crafts Building, the architects exposed 14-foot concrete slab ceilings and riveted steel columns to maximize the volume and honestly express the structure.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT: ERIC LAIGNEL
Spark Studio Lighting Design LLC, an affiliate of HLW, designed the lighting. Scott Herrick, Principal and Founder gave me a tour of the office and discussed the value of people collaborating faceto-face, emphasizing how a more communicative environment encourages collaboration in their work.
Spark works hand in hand with design teams to create lighting approaches that support project goals and allow forms, finishes, and functionality to be at the forefront. A major goal of the design for the HLW workspace was for the lighting to support rather than being the star of the show. The Spark team did everything from design, specification, and calculations to create a nuanced visual environment, while using Acuity Brands for general lighting, and Flos for decorative fixtures throughout. The process began
Transparency and honesty are embodied in this view through a conference pod to the all-hands gathering space that greets visitors at front.
in 2018, and construction was completed in July of 2019.
Especially in this time of more remote collaboration, BIM technology has allowed for 3D visualization throughout the design and documentation processes, and lighting software such as LightStanza plugs into the Revit platforms to allow for more thorough analysis. Scott explained, “You are inputting detailed lighting characteristics into the model and working with the architect to envision our concepts. We’re finding that we are much more involved working with architects and interior designers, rendering the lighting in real time, as the design evolves.”
The first thing I noticed when entering their
office is the lack of private offices. That choice was intentional when designing their space, the flexible and collaborative environment is reinforced by a shared workspace, rather than isolating offices. Besides the open flow of the floor, your eyes are quickly attracted to the exposed steel columns in the area, painted with intumescent flame-resistant paint which allows rivet and plate details to stand out. The columns add an industrial accent. The design in general is simple and timeless, striking a balance between past and future. HLW holds a significant history, and their office speaks to that.
HLW is celebrating its 137th year of practice and is one of the longest practicing architectural firms in the United States. The firm has been reenergized in recent years and continues to grow its
footprint in the media, entertainment, residential, technology, legal, financial, and landlord sectors of work, with both ground up and interiors projects. The firm's goal is to tell each client's story with a unique and refreshing design that addresses their unique business needs.
The simple, minimalist design is replete with concrete ceilings and three walls of windows–allowing for generous natural light through the space. The daylight is complemented with LED lighting that adjusts slowly to changing conditions, providing a visually effective work environment. Scott emphasized that they did not want dramatic changes that can sometimes jolt the associates. Uniformity was critical, so the luminaires were added on the perimeter allowing the daylight to be well-adjusted. Scott
Carefully calculated direct/indirect lighting provides uniform illumination, balances daylight with vertical washes, and emphasizes the open volume.
Recessed linear fixtures underline the simplicity of design, with an internally lit logo that provides balance and energy to the elevator lobby.
explained, “We actively work to get to a balance between getting the lighting power density as low as possible, to maximize our LEED points, versus getting the output that we want.”
The office is illuminated by a mix of pendant fixtures, indirect coves, decorative fixtures over work counters and their cafe counter, and one area with tunable white lighting. While the overall color temperature is 3000K, the Materials Library can be changed from 2700 Kelvin up to 6500 Kelvin, allowing designers and clients to see samples in different settings.
Their new office space allows for a personal and flexible experience, with an environment fit for the constantly changing landscape that the workplace holds. HLW continues to utilize digital and physical tools to bring ideas to life, and their new space allows for that to happen. Additionally, the new space complies with sustainability and wellness standards with an emphasis on materials, light, water, and air quality. The office is LEED Gold certified and has also received a WELL HealthSafety Certification.
The space is modern and flows well, with a simple and clean concept, allowing for the architect’s work to truly shine through. The careful lighting choices aid in showing off how electric light can interact with natural light and space, while creating an innovative and highly functional workspace for employees. ■
While 875,000 people call San Francisco their home, approximately 25.8 million travel to the city annually. So, it was a major triumph for Auerbach Glasow to design the lighting for the Salesforce Transit Center. The multimodal, LEED Gold transit facility is owned and operated by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, and located in the heart of the city. Yukiko Yoshida, Sabra Zacharias, and Patty Glasow sat with me to share about this eleven year, 1.5 million square foot, multimodal hub project.
The project design began in 2008, when Pelli Clarke & Partners, formerly Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, hired Auerbach Glasow, formerly Auerbach Glasow French, to create the lighting design. César Pelli (1926-2019), and Fred Clarke, world-renowned architects and founders of Pelli Clarke Pelli were both actively involved with the project.
With four floors of unique lighting throughout including overhead lighting, accent lighting and lights through the Light Column, the team had a large project of utilizing lights in different ways – and with a decade of changes to the lighting industry, they had to adjust to stay current and utilize what was best for their project.
The Salesforce Transit Center (STC), formerly Transit Center, the name changed due to a naming rights agreement, is four blocks in length, six-stories high (four-stories currently open to the public) and one block wide. The ground and second levels have restaurants and wellness services, and an outdoor rooftop park occupies the fourth level. City and inter-city busses arrive and depart on the first and third levels and a future train concourse and platform will occupy the bottom 2 levels (the train box already exists). It is an impressive modern style transit hub. From an overhead drone shot, STC’s lush green park takes center stage and is one of the Bay Area’s crown jewels.
The ten-year design had several delays which caused headaches for everybody involved. As Auerbach was conducting their original lighting design, the TJPA updated their risk and vulnerability assessment. Since San Francisco is such a large tourist-based city, and home to earthquakes, they had to worry about both terrorism and structural soundness in case of natural disasters. As the security plan evolved, the architects changed their design and Auerbach had to do the same with the lighting. Although the update caused some delay, San Francisco has a more secure facility.
The initial design began with fluorescent sources in 2008 and there was much debate about the practicality of LED. At that time, the Auerbach team did not feel there was enough evidence that LED was the correct choice. As the design continued into future years, LED became the obvious solution for downlights. But because the light fixture spacing was already set with sprinklers, speakers and other mechanics, there was no flexibility
in the repositioning of LED downlights. Therefore, each LED luminaire had to be a one-for one replacement of the original fluorescent downlight design.
Construction of the underground phases began in 2010 even before the above-ground design was complete. In 2014, with the design finished, the above-ground construction launched.
After many RFI’s and submittal reviews, with most of the fluorescent fixture types ultimately replaced with LED products, the STC opened in August of 2019.
At the heart of the building, the Light Column supports a central skylight allowing natural daylight to reach the train platform 6 levels below the park. During multiple focusing sessions, Yukiko rose 75
feet in the air with a construction worker in a lift to ensure precise aiming of the projectors. As Yukiko aimed the fixtures from the lift, Sabra was on the top floor confirming the beam patterns lined up perfectly. Sabra said, “I would run up to the roof and call Yukiko and tell her to move it by 5 degrees, then I would run down to each level to ensure the shape of the beam was consistent on all levels at different colors.” Auerbach Glasow specified Lumenpulse color changing fixtures to illuminate the Light Column. The color for the Light Column changes every hour.
Additionally, the team made nearly all lights dimmable, allowing for full control and flow from day to nighttime using Lutron controls. Yukiko said that there are different scenes for daytime, sunset evening, and after-hours.
City buses enter and exit at grade level as weekday commuters walk through the STC directly in front of the busses. Patty emphasized the importance of safety yet elegance in this high pedestrian traffic area. The design architect wanted a practical fixture, but not a typical highbay. SPI answered the call, creating a custom pendant luminaire that added the practicality of a highbay, in more of a decorative design.
Huge round fixtures are located on the third level. They consist of simple strip fixtures above resin diffusers. The diffuser is segmented in pie-shaped wedges for accessibility. An architectural detail was added to give the luminaire a recessed effect. Sabra said, “The quality of light is rather unique in that it is very
comfortable for a transportation hub. The diffused light is bright and pleasant at all hours. You feel very safe.” Patty added, “The light feels good during the day as it blends with the daylight.”
On the fourth floor, which is the park level, Auerbach Glasow designed the lighting at the canopies that exit at the park level. HLB Lighting Design conducted the design for the park level including the landscape lighting which is 3000K. In describing the exterior light, Yukiko said, “Since the exterior lighting is only on at night, we don’t have to worry about blending with daylight. So 3000K on the exterior was a great choice and we selected 3000K for the fixtures we specified on the park level.”
On the ground level, which needed to blend with daylight, there is no landscape lighting, so all building-mounted lighting on the ground level is 4000K, which is the same as interior lighting. Maintaining the same color temperature between the exterior and interior helps blend the line between where outside ends and the inside begins. The building’s exterior features an eye-catching curving mesh awning, where large columns scale the building. The column lighting was mocked up in house and later at the site. During the office mockup, Sabra explained, “We stacked empty water jugs together and wrapped them in white paper to simulate the columns.” BK Lighting fixtures are attached at the bottom of the curving mesh awning to provide general lighting for pedestrian circulation, and BEGA spotlights are located at the top of the angled columns to highlight the columns.
I asked about the financial aspects given the long design time. Patty said that the fees were based on a traditional architecture model in that they were to be paid in phases, saying, “It was challenging and there were
Exterior column lighting: BEGA
Canopy mounted lighting: BK Lighting
Linear: Insight Lighting, Elliptipar
Controls: Lutron
Pendant & surface mounted downlights:
SPI Lighting
Recessed Downlights: Gotham®
Light Column lighting: Lumenpulse
“The quality of light is rather unique in that it is very comfortable for a transportation hub. The diffused light is bright and pleasant at all hours. You feel very safe.”
Patty Glasow
additional services and ongoing discussions on how to deal with delays from a fee standpoint.”
Larry French, who left the firm in 2016, was the principal in charge of the project but since the design lasted more than 10 years, Auerbach had 18 different people work on the project. Yukiko was the original project manager and lead designer. Sabra joined the team during design development as lead designer for multiple levels. Other contributing designers for the project were: E. Sara McBarnette, as well as former Auerbach Glasow designers Marlene Lieu and Neha Sivaprasad. Patty explained, “Yukiko and Sabra were truly the stability of the design since they were involved from the beginning, ensuring that the design elements from the original design, the new design, and the execution of the project stayed similar.” The duo worked relentlessly to warrant that this long project is worth a visit for both tourists and locals alike. ■
2 IES Awards of Merit. One for the entire project and one for the color changing Light Column
Lighting Design: Auerbach Glasow, HLB Lighting Design
Design Architect: Pelli Clarke & Partners
Architect of Record: Adamson Associates International, Inc.
Landscape Architect: PWP Landscape Architecture
Electrical Engineer: Buro Happold and WSP
By
CRAIG DILOUIE, LC, CLCP
Craig DiLouie is education director for the Lighting Controls Association, a council of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association that educates the public about lighting control technology and application.
In 2021, the U.S. rebounded from 2020’s short but devastating pandemic recession with the strongest economic growth in nearly forty years. In 2021, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.7%, ending the year with a quarterly expansion of 6.9%, according to the Commerce Department. During 2021, current-dollar GDP increased 10%, or $2.1 trillion, to a level of nearly $23 trillion, compared to a decrease of 2.2%, or about $480 billion, in 2020.
A major contributor to the economy is construction, which overall similarly rebounded with 9.3% growth in 2021. The rebound was uneven, however, driven primarily by residential construction spending.
The outlook for 2022 is even more positive, particularly for nonresidential, with significant and more balanced growth expected across this sector. If current trends continue, this positive outlook looks to accelerate in 2023. According to the AIA Construction Consensus Forecast Panel of leading economic forecasters, nonresidential building construction spending is expected to expand 5.4% in 2022 and strengthen to a 6.1% expansion in 2023.
Significant and well-known risks remain, however, notably supply chain disruption, inflation, labor challenges, and the lingering pandemic. As a result, the economy is expected to slow this year. The International Monetary Fund has forecasted U.S. GDP growth will slow to 4% in 2022. These risks also extend to the construction industry, producing higher costs and project delays.
“The last two years have become increasingly unpredictable, due in large part to the coronavirus and public officials’ varied reactions to it,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “But assuming current trends hold, 2022 should be a relatively strong year for the construction industry.”
U.S. put-in-place construction spending grew to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.63 trillion in November 2021, the latest month for which data was available at the time this article was written. Year over year, total construction spending increased 9.3%. (Actual spending was $1.46 trillion as of November 2021, a year-over-year increase of 7.9%.) This growth was driven largely by a healthy residential market, whose value grew 16.1%.
Nonresidential construction spending, meanwhile, grew a modest 3.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $820.6 billion in November 2021 (though actual annual spending showed a decline of 3.8% from November 2020).
While private nonresidential construction grew 6.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis, public nonresidential construction contracted 0.8%. The top markets were the private commercial (+15.1%), private manufacturing (+22.4%), and public healthcare (+13.8%) markets. Losses were led by the public safety (-32.4%), private lodging (-30.7%), public commercial (-13.3%), and religious (-11.7%) markets.
Click here to see the data.
In January 2022, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the December 2021 Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score was 52, an increase from 51 in November. While 6.5 points off the May score, which was the ABI’s 2021 peak, the December score ended the year on a high note, as any score over 50 indicates billings growth. In fact, the ABI remained above 50 since January 2021.
Despite a variety of concerns related to the omicron variant, labor shortages, and rising prices as well as limited availability of construction materials, architecture firms continued to report a robust supply of work in
the pipeline. Inquiries into new work and the value of new design contracts both remained strong, and backlogs, at an average of 6.5 months, remained near their highest levels since the AIA began tracking this metric in 2010.
Regional averages: South (56.4); Midwest (51.0); West (47.5); and Northeast (45.3). Sector index breakdown: mixed practice (60.6); multifamily residential (49.2); commercial/industrial (49.2); and institutional (47.6). Project inquiries index: 66.8. Design contracts index: 55.8. (The regional and sector categories are calculated as a three-month moving average, whereas the national index, design contracts, and inquiries are monthly numbers.)
Despite the lingering pandemic and low demand for certain types of nonresidential buildings, the Dodge Momentum Index had a banner year, increasing 23%, the strongest annual gain since 2005. Produced by Dodge Construction Network, this index is a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. Both the commercial and institutional components of the Momentum
Index saw similar gains in 2021, with their levels of activity reaching 13- and 14-year highs, respectively.
In December 2021, the Momentum Index experienced a 3% dip to 166.4, down from the revised November reading of 170.7. Commercial planning fell 4%, and institutional planning slipped 1%. Regardless, the signals provided by the Dodge Momentum Index continue to suggest construction activity will improve in 2022, and that this growth will be more balanced than what was seen in 2021. The ongoing risks of the pandemic and tight labor force will work to counter these trends, however, according to Dodge.
Electrical industry business confidence was volatile but largely positive in 2021, falling below the expansionary score of 50 only once during the year (October). The National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s (NEMA) Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) for current conditions in North America reached a record 89.5 in April 2021, reflecting broadly surging manufacturing activity. It ended 2021 on a positive note with a December score of 56.7, with manufacturers struggling with the muddled conditions of ample demand dampened by supply challenges.
Construction contractors expect increasing demand for numerous types of projects in 2022 despite ongoing supply chain and labor challenges, according to a survey by the Associated General Contractors of America and Sage. The findings are detailed in Expecting Growth While Coping with the Lingering Impacts of the Pandemic: The 2022 Construction Hiring & Business Outlook.
The percentage of respondents who expect a market segment to expand exceeds the percentage who expect it to contract—known as the net reading—in 15 of the 17 categories of projects included in the survey. Contractors are most optimistic about infrastructure, a group of market segments that all stand to see increased federal investments because of the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure bill. Contractors are also upbeat about demand for federal construction projects.
The highest expectations among predominantly private-sector categories, with a net reading of 41% each, are for warehouses and other healthcare facilities, which includes clinics, testing facilities, and medical labs. The outlook for hospital construction is also strong, with a net reading of 38%. Contractors were also optimistic about multifamily residential construction, with a net reading of 32%, and manufacturing construction, with a net reading of 27%.
Expectations were more subdued, however, for public buildings, with a net reading of 20%; kindergarten through 12th grade school construction, with a net reading of 19%; higher education facilities, with a 16% net reading; and lodging, with a 6% net reading. Only two categories received negative net readings, both of -8%: retail and private office construction.
“Contractors are, overall, very optimistic about the outlook for the construction industry in 2022,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. “While contractors face challenges this year, most of those will be centered on the need to keep pace with growing demand for construction projects.”
Despite supply chain disruptions and the lingering pandemic, nonresidential building construction spending is expected to increase
5.4% in 2022, according to the AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel made up of leading economic forecasters. This spending is expected to accelerate to a 6.1% increase in 2023.
With a decline in construction spending on nonresidential buildings in 2021, few building types benefited from spending increases. In contrast, only the hotel, religious, and public safety sectors are expected to continue to decline in 2022.
By 2023, all the major commercial, industrial, and institutional categories are projected to see at least reasonably healthy gains.
“The pandemic, supply chain disruptions, growing inflation, labor shortages, and the potential passage of all or part of the Build Back Better legislation could have a dramatic impact on the construction sector this year,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. “Challenges to the economy and the construction industry notwithstanding, the outlook for the nonresidential building market looks promising for this year and next.”
Click here to see each of the panelist’s projections.
The Mosaic Series features high CRI output with tunable white from 1800K to 8000K with a CRI of 90+ across the entire color temperature range. Rich blues, ambers, reds, violets, and greens can be added in gradients, or they can completely saturate the field being lit. Paired with the ControlTrack System, the Mosaic Series give you the flexibility of a versatile lighting system in a neat, architectural package. Contact us to learn more.
White Collar Factory may be one of London’s most pioneering new office developments, but its basement was never intended to become a workspace. However, when plans to turn this space into a restaurant failed to materialize, the architects, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), saw an opportunity to challenge previous assumptions. This 983-square-metre space, whose only source of daylight comes from four small skylights, has been cleverly transformed into a flexible creative hub for 110 of AHMM’s own staff, all thanks to a human centric lighting scheme designed with an innovative lighting system from ERCO.
The build out is very much in keeping with the experimental spirit in which the building was envisioned. Inspired by the expansive and adaptable workspaces of Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Johnson Wax Headquarters, AHMM and developer Derwent London had embarked on a five-year research project to prove that new-build offices are every bit as inspiring as converted industrial buildings. White Collar Factory is the result of that research. With its large, flexible floor plates and high ceilings – not to mention an entrance lobby that doubles as a co-working lounge and a 150-metre rooftop running track – the building sets a new standard for the sector.
The basement was more difficult to convert to a functional office than the floors above, which all boast full-height working windows. But it also had features that the others didn’t, like an eight-meter floor-to-ceiling height, which created a grand hall feeling. This
was enough to convince AHMM co-founder and design principal Simon Allford that the space could become an extra studio for the practice’s growing team. "Fundamentally it had everything we would look for in a project, except windows," he says. "We take the idea that no space is impossible, every space can become magical. It becomes a design exercise about making that work."
With daylight on offer, ERCO’s human-centric lighting system plays an important role in bringing natural variation to the workspace over the course of a day. While other lighting systems can create a fixed blanket of illumination, that’s not the case here.
The Atrium Double Focus pendants help to support the circadian rhythm, with dimming capability, tunable white light and glare control. These can-shaped pendants bring the high ceilings into the lighting scheme, casting illumination both up and down to create the appropriate mood for different moments. They are supported by Jilly track downlights in the single floor spaces, which use wide and oval beam distributions dedicated to work environments. This allows large spacings between the luminaires. The track downlights ensure that light is directed only to the places where it’s needed, to increase visual comfort. Pantrac track lights also feature, illuminating the walls to make the space feel more open and expansive. This increases the perceived brightness of rooms, since human perception is stimulated more by illuminated vertical surfaces rather than light on a horizontal plane.
"The goal, he explains, is to show it’s possible to create dynamic lighting conditions even when you’re dealing with a windowless space"
Simon Allford
"You look at scenesetting, you look at the changing nature of the body," says Allford. The goal, he explains, is to show it’s possible to create dynamic lighting conditions even when you’re dealing with a windowless space, offering an alternative to the standardized lux settings
prescribed by the industry. In this way, the lighting becomes a research project of its own. "You're looking at the impact of light, rather than the fittings, he states. ‘It's this idea that you're not looking at holes in the ceiling, you're looking at sources of light landing on surfaces."
The changing nature of today’s workplace, particularly in light of Covid-19, meant that flexibility had to be ingrained within the interior from the outset. One way AHMM achieved this was Jack, a modular system consisting of box-like plywood cassettes. The Jack system makes it possible to create meeting rooms that can be taken down and reconfigured in a matter of hours. Here, this means that the office can be adapted as the size of the team grows or shrinks.
The ERCO system supports this need for flexibility. On the one hand with the Casambi Bluetooth control system. Using an iPhone or iPad, the Bluetooth-enabled luminaires can be easily programmed to suit new layouts. Additionally, the track downlights can be physically rearranged with ease, by simply mounting them in a different part of the track. Each desk is also equipped with its own Lucy task light, giving employees more control over their immediate environment. "It’s a theatrical idea of flexibility," says Allford. "It's about personality and character. You can move a wall, you can move a light, you can change your light source, so people can remake their environment depending on their mood."
As London recovers from the pandemic, AHMM staff are adjusting to routines that combine a return to the office with some still working from home. Meanwhile Allford is gearing up for a period of change, combining architectural practice with a two-year term as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The architect believes that the new, more flexible models of working will only serve to strengthen the creative culture in office buildings like White Collar Factory.
"Years ago, in a famous furniture shop, I saw this sign that said, work is not a place you go, it is a thing you do," he said. "You could say the pandemic reinforced that idea, but I fundamentally disagree. I think work is a place you go to do things. That idea of leaving your home, coming into a different kind of environment and meeting with people is the culture of creativity. It's absolutely vital." ■
With its visually stimulating appearance, Lazer Line can stretch up to 60-feet with no visible diodes or pixilation. The patented Lazer Line design utilizes turnbuckles, ½” wide aluminum heatsink tape and premium LED Lazer Strip. By using color and multiple Lazer Lines, one can create a spectacular three-dimensional space. Customize with a range of static white color temperatures, RGB, and dynamic Tunable White. FOR MORE
Flar, launched by Lodes and designed by French designer Patrick Norguet, evokes images of a flare or ‘flamboiement’ in French – an intense blaze or burst of light. Inspired by traditional storm lanterns which use glass pipes to protect the flame, Flar features a billowing glass shade designed to surround an LED filament bulb to magnify the light source and disperse a warm, vibrating glow. Its steel, 3D laser-cut base opens like a flower, leading to a charmingly imperfect molded, mouth-blown glass shade.
Edge Lighting is an innovative linear LED fixture with three to six channels that can be rotated 360°, allowing the user to effortlessly shine the light Up for Indirect ambient lighting, or downward for task and general illumination, and anywhere in between. Each channel produces clean, uninterrupted beams of light through a Diffused White 176º Lens.
The latest generation of ERCO Parscan spotlights ERCO uses reengineered, even more precise and finely structured Spherolit lenses for controlling the light – in no less than 12 practical light distributions that, as compact lens units, can be exchanged without tools. Parscan is just as flexible and customizable in terms of control as it is with light colors and distributions. Four control modes can be selected: wireless with Casambi Bluetooth and Zigbee 3.0. With the 0-10V Casambi bridge (available on request) you can also control your 48V Bluetooth luminaires via 0-10V.
Kenall’s new IP66 EnviroPro IN9 series natatorium luminaires are a long-lasting lighting solution for caustic environments, including those containing chlorine and salt. The IN9 series features stainlesssteel that resists both galvanic and chemical corrosion. Field adjustability and multiple optical distribution options help minimize glare while directing the light exactly where it’s needed.
The Flos Camera features a minimal, compact design with a neutral but still immediately recognizable volume for Innovative program of trackmounted projectors developed for museum and retail applications. Camera guarantees an exceptional lighting quality controlling cut-off angles without sacrificing high efficiency and incredible product versatility. The projector hosts an exclusive patented optic system adapted to multiple beam angles, allowing the maximum glare control. FLOS Camera Projectors were recently installed at the Exhibition Realismo Magico in Palazzo Reale in Milan.
Meteor Lighting Launched two new architectural cylinders. The Vela 4 & 5 are contemporary cylinders with 1,300 to 5,000 delivered lumens, dim to black compatibility, and a complete set of accessories to suit modern and industrial interiors.
The Contour Edge by John Cullen Lighting is an in-ground wall grazer, developed with a special focus on delivering the highest quality of light possible in the smallest achievable body, while keeping visible glare to the absolute minimum. Driven by a global trend towards linear lighting, the Contour Edge is John Cullen Lighting's first offering in a diverse new line of products.
OOOOH from Beta-Calco dazzles up traditional linear lighting concepts with an innovative louver system. An array of ellipses is incurved to conform to a tunnel-shaped profile creating a sublime lighting effect. The OOOOH is available in linear, continuous recessed and a suspended ring.
Acclaim Lighting, introduces the ZDM 6, a flexible, wall-mountable protocol converter that can cross convert between 0-10V Sink and DMX for architectural lighting applications. Designed for ease of setup and implementation, the ZDM 6 features six total zones (or channels). Selection of the conversion options are made via the easy-to-use onboard dip switches.
The Selux Line is minimised to the max. The design philosophy was to radically reduce the complexity of a luminaire’s form by integrating the optics into a vertical line. The result: slim line luminaires that support a calm and clear urban landscape. The discreet form brings the lighting effect and the individual character of the luminaire’s materials and surfaces more to the foreground. Minimised cross-sections ensure elegant proportions across the different column, pole, bollard and wall variations.
By
The phrase “in vino veritas” translates to “in wine there is truth,” and when it comes to interior design projects, Theorem Winery has revealed an authentic way to making a working winery double as a hub for hospitality. Located in Napa Valley’s Diamond Mountain district, the 9,000-square-foot structure seamlessly combines fine winemaking, breathtaking views, lush gardens, and gorgeous custom fixtures. As a state-of-the-art winery that offers a curated visitor experience, design elements are critical to ensuring success. We spoke with representatives of two firms involved in the project—Katherine Schwertner AIA LEED AP, Technical Director, Richard Beard Architects, and Hiram Banks, IALD, LEEP AP, Principal, Banks Landl Lighting Design—for insights on the production facility where the tanks are housed; the barrel room where the wine is stored; and the tasting area where visitors can sip and savor the end results.
“The winery has a tasting room and they do some pairings, but it’s actually more a producing winery, so the idea was to keep it centrally located,” says Schwertner. “The site conditions had great views of both the vineyards and an existing chicken coop that’s now called the Long Bar—they turned it into a space to host weddings or other private events. They were using the existing spaces that they had and taking advantage of the views as well as the location and proximity to the vineyards.” In fact,
location played a major factor in the design since so much natural light is present. With the winery’s workspace being an active one, careful consideration had to be taken with lighting choices. “The idea was to make it as residential as we could in the actual winery itself and the actual working area where the tanks are,” says Banks. To achieve this, there are two different layers of light: one that’s high ambient for working and another with beautiful, decorative fixtures and accenting so that the winery team can turn the lights down low and dramatic if there’s a tasting or event.
When it came to the barrel room, Banks and his team wall washed all of treated concrete walls with LED lighting. “Just a soft wash down to provide ambient and soft lighting background for the space. Then you can see small little down lights above, which are lighting the two chairs and a table,” explains Banks. “It’s lots of layers of
light so that it can be used like this when it’s for a tasting or event, or if they need to have it up for loading barrels or filling them.” There’s another layer that’s ambient light that’s high level if they want it as well, adds Banks. “The idea was that it had to be both because a lot of wineries don’t go for the second layer. They just do a work layer, and that’s it.” Additionally, Theorem opted to pay for a lighting control system that allows them to dim all the lights, which is a big expense. “Most wineries don’t do that, but because this is a private winery and they want to do their own events, they paid to have that so they can step down and turn stuff off.” For Schwertner, it’s the simplicity in the combination of the storage of the barrels, the concrete, and the light at one end—that gives visitors a little bit of a view— which makes that space special. “The client was very involved in the selection of the decorative light fixtures so while you had this sort of rough and raw interior,” Schwertner notes, “she had
that,” explains Banks. “There’s also an aesthetic that interior designers do in terms of colors and furniture, so we need to make sure we clearly understand that.” On this job, he adds, it was interesting because the chosen pendants are quite modern and clean, but because they’re so clean and modern, they can kind of go anywhere because the hospitality areas are much more specialized and traditional. “I think the other thing is because this is a working winery, we had to make sure that we design it so that it can actually work for the workers that are crushing the grapes and filling the tanks. That’s why the layers were very important for us to put in.”
Meanwhile in Schwertner’s case, the principles of modernism in architecture—bringing the outside in, bringing more light into the spaces, framing views—as well as sustainability, site orientation, and materiality are all key components. “The orientation is, how are you going to work with the Southern exposure versus Northern? The light that comes from the North is very different than from the South, so you might have overhangs on the South elevation and no overhangs or less of an overhang on the North façade,” she explains. Since Schwertner and her team have always believed in longevity, they try to select materials that are going to last for a long time rather than require a lot of maintenance. They also always strive to provide large openings. “I think in the winery because of the scale of the building having big openings makes a lot of sense,” she notes. “The odd thing is this building was a prefabricated building, which we kind of changed it a little bit so it wouldn’t look like a big box store; but the key to this project was having very simple forms as well as very large openings and big sliding doors, which gives you that lightness, spaciousness, and airiness that one wouldn’t think is going to be part of a winery.”
Of course, the clients are the most important part of a project’s success, Schwertner adds, and in this case, she says the client was terrific to work with and very decisive. “We worked well with her and we were able to build the project in a very short period of time, comparatively speaking,” she says. Managing the flow was another part of ensuring success, and that entailed working in coordination with the winery, winery manager, winemaker, and sommelier to make sure the circulation through the building worked well for everybody. “In this case it was instrumental to have the woman that manages the winery involved,” Schwertner says, “because she was instrumental in helping us make decisions.”
As far as trends Banks is seeing in the lighting industry right now, the biggest one continues to be the rise of LEDs—which is what was utilized in the Theorem Winery project. “They are so energy efficient, and while there’s a lot of technical requirements than just an incandescent or fluorescent light source, you have to wonder how can you use that source creatively,” muses Banks. “We’re noticing that LEDs have gotten smaller, and it’s allowed us to do things we couldn’t do before. That’s where lighting is headed—towards being smaller, more efficient, with a longer life.” ■
Lambda Pendant wins 2021 GOOD DESIGN ® Award
The Lambda pendant has won a prestigious 2021 GOOD DESIGN Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.
The Lambda pendant is an elegant and minimalist indoor lighting solution, that integrates seamlessly into office, residential or commercial environments.
Lambda offers a direct and indirect lighting solution and is available in 4-, 6- or 8-foot lengths and 4 color temperature options.
Lambda comes in 4 standard finishes — Black Suede, Bronze, Matte Silver, White Suede — with custom colors on request. Canopies available semi-recessed or surface mounted.
D LUX By Dynamic Strategist at sixteen5hundred
Dynamic lighting has come into play in multiple arenas, no longer just concerts and theatre. While dynamic lighting has been alive and well in the entertainment industry for over 35 years, it is now spreading roots in the built environment in a number of ways. The term dynamic is characterized by “constant change, activity, or progress”. When paired with lighting, this “activity” is defined by color tuning, warm dimming, and saturated color shifts. These shifts can be fast and obvious, or imperceptibly slow and subtle.
Naturally, the first step of bringing dynamic lighting to the built environment was to repeat what we saw in entertainment by bringing saturated light to facades, fountains, and feature
pieces throughout a building. This is Pillar 1, the natural progression from stage to structure. Saturated light as a permanent installation has been embraced across the globe, but it doesn’t end there.
As LED technology has progressed, it has allowed for advances in circadian lighting, or tunable white, as well. The functionality required for this is twofold. The first advancement came from LEDs being able to create multiple temperatures within a diode or diode set in order to create a spectrum of white that is as close to the black body curve as possible. At the early stages of LED, the market only offered “cool” or “warm” options in separate fixtures. As the technology progressed, diodes gained better
accuracy as well as decreasing in size, allowing different methods to achieve a specific color. Improved color rendering allowed white light to become virtually equal to classic incandescent sources. The next function that improved in LED technology was dimming. Steppiness was decreased so that the lighting would have a smooth fade that is unnoticeable to the eye. Without these two factors, it would not be possible to create circadian lighting.
The second pillar is Circadian lighting, which goes by many names, is in essence the ability to mimic natural light. Humans are predisposed to natural light, and our biorhythms depend upon these patterns for health and wellness, as well as cues for sleeping and waking. As
The term dynamic is characterized by “constant change, activity, or progress”. When paired with lighting, this “activity” is defined by color tuning, warm dimming, and saturated color shifts.
LED technology was improving, research on the impact of natural light was also ramping up. Today’s elder population is among the first to be exposed to artificial light for their entire lifetimes. The research has studied the cause and effect of long hours of exposure to older technologies of artificial light, such as fluorescent or HID. Typically, these would be set at a single color temperature for the course of the day, as opposed to the sun which arcs on a curve from a warm, low intensity, to a cool, high intensity and back again. This natural pattern is embedded in our circadian cycles and highly impacts our health. The studies show an unfortunate range of negative side effects caused by exposure to unnatural lighting environments. Luckily, through the advancements in technology, natural light
can be recreated indoors and has shown many benefits for the health and wellness of occupants.
Circadian lighting is not the only healthy light grabbing attention. The third pillar of dynamic lighting is the heightened need to have a clean, germ-free environment and can be accomplished with germicidal UV lighting. Like circadian lighting, a UV system also requires automated controls to optimize the benefits. UV disinfection technology can limit pathogens in the air and on surfaces by interrupting the reproduction process of viruses and bacteria. The UV spectrum ranges from 100-400 nanometers. Some wavelengths can be unsafe for living occupants; therefore, controls are
crucial. Automating the lighting to be responsive to time triggers and occupancy sensors can make this a highly effective system for schools, healthcare, and offices.
The tallest pillar? Funding! To make the dynamic possibilities of any kind become attainable, the funding aspect must be considered. When keeping arts and philanthropy in mind, this opens the doors of possibility even wider. Light as art can work hand in hand with a sculpture, fountain, facade, or simply be the art in and of itself. One great example of available funding for dynamic lighting projects can be seen in cities which have set aside funding to support the arts through a variety of initiatives. In several cities, during the permit process, a percentage of the overall construction budget is allocated to fund the arts. This gives local artists and design teams an opportunity to add a focal point or create an area of interest where there may have not been funding to do so in the past. Whether it is a private sculptural installation in the lobby of a building, a local public garden, or even an interactive public light display, there are many opportunities for artists and designers to get involved and keep the arts alive and thriving. If such a vision comes up for a project, there are a multitude of grant and funding opportunities that could make it feasible. Check with local
municipalities for monthly meetings open to interested parties or a newsletter that outlines new opportunities. The true success of a project comes from the collaboration of teams with a result that is beneficial to the local community.
Another great opportunity for funding dynamic lighting projects is through the CARES Act. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, was passed by Congress on March 27th, 2020. This bill allotted $2.2 trillion to provide fast and direct economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was delegated as Federal Stimulus Funding via the Department of Education. For example, California’s Department of Education Spending Allocation is over 2 billion Dollars. Each state has a specific allocation, and this relief package provides states with both funding and streamlined waivers to give State educational agencies (SEAs) necessary flexibilities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The relief
package includes $30.75 billion in emergency education funding.
The two main funding sources are the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER I Fund) and the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER I Fund). The ESSER I Fund provides California with $1,647,306,127, and the GEER I Fund accounts for approximately $355,227,235. This funding will provide local educational agencies (LEAs) with emergency relief funds to address the impact COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the nation. Funding is available March 13, 2020 –September 30, 2022.
Lighting is fundamental to learning. Dynamic lighting is expected in “cafetorium” or “gymnatorium”, spaces that utilize a classic multifunction design, where a school’s cafeteria or gymnasium doubles as an area to gather students, staff, and guests for assembly,
presentations, and theatrical performances. Additionally, when considering schools where gathering warrants consideration of a health and wellness initiative, germicidal UV should also be considered as a vital tool. Finally, research shows that performance is higher in classrooms with tunable white lighting as well, along with general studies indicating many health benefits of circadian lighting. In this atmosphere, there is an argument for the 3 design pillars - classic stage lighting, circadian lighting, and germicidal UV - to be considered, and they would be eligible for funding under the CARES Act.
The creative, collaborative renaissance of dynamic light is here, and the tools of the trade are better than ever. It’s time to build a better, brighter future with dynamic lighting.
For more resources, please visit 16500. com/Dynamic, and don’t forget to bring your imagination! ■
Remember the old adage, "If you want something done right, do it yourself?" When it comes to lighting design, Seattle-based FINNE Architects is a perfect example. Not satisfied with fixtures available on the market, founder Nils Finne AIA opted to design custom lighting himself for a Los Angeles–based house located in the area’s Venice neighborhood. The “Venice House” project, which was completed in August 2019, features a stunning 10-foot-long custom steel kitchen pendant that Finne designed, which was fabricated by Landbridge Lighting, a fabrication shop also based in Seattle.
“I have been designing light fixtures for many years, and when you search for pendant fixtures there are thousands. I find that for whatever reason, I am never quite happy with any of them—nor are my clients,” says Finne.
“It’s kind of like TV channels—there are 500 of them, but nothing to watch. I guess on one level what’s out there isn’t that exciting, and on another level, I am a huge adherent of what I call crafted modernism, which is the idea that modern architecture and modern design have in many cases lacked detail, craft, and the kind of attention that the human hand brings to materials that everyone responds to.” In fact, this is one of the reasons Finne thinks modern design has a sterility problem and many people find it a bit cold. “I have a very strong interest in bringing craft with a high level of design to my projects,” he adds, “which ties in with the idea of actually custom-making light fixtures and furniture.”
For his design process, once Finne generates ideas and drawings for fixtures, he turns to the lighting experts at Landbridge to bring
them to life—as was the case for the Venice House. “They make custom fixtures for all kinds of designers, and they really bring craftsmanship and expertise with wiring and troubleshooting to make sure everything works,” he says. “I actually have a custom fixture that they made for me hanging in my own office, so it’s kind of an advertisement for the whole process.” Finne adds that when he starts talking to clients, they will look up and say, ‘Oh, that’s beautiful. So yes, let’s do one of those.’ “Landbridge Lighting is key, and I’ve been working with them for probably 15 years or more. The two guys who run it—Stephen and Jesse—are just fantastic, and it’s like with any craftsmen: You walk on a construction site, they are there, and you listen to what they have to say. Craftsmen are working with their hands, and as a designer, if you’re kind, cooperative, considerate, and listen, they end up making you look very good. If you don’t listen, they can make you look very bad.”
When it comes to inspiration for design in his work, Finne reveals that he can’t say enough about light as a continual source of inspiration and that a strong interest of his is using a light fixture to create lines within a space. “I think light is simultaneously tangible and intangible. It’s present, and yet it’s not present. You can’t touch it, and yet you feel it. It shapes space. I will
“I love the idea of drawing with light and creating lines in space that are formed by light.”
― Nils Finne
confess that I love the idea of drawing with light and creating lines in space that are formed by light,” he explains. “In the Venice House, we have these two parallel, very thin steel plates that have the MR 11 LED lights tucked up into them. They’re slightly offset, which actually mimics or reflects the design of the kitchen island. Then there’s a cast glass plane, which forms a breakfast table, that’s also offset from the shape of the island itself. So starting from the bottom you have this stone piece with this offset plane of glass and then you go up to the light fixture and there are these two offset bands of steel that have these lines of light in them.”
While the idea of drawing with light is certainly strong for Finne, he also thinks that when you’re designing a light fixture, it’s important to try and make the fixture in such a way that the fixture and the light are dovetailed together and complementary—rather than one thing being dominant, and the other one being secondary. “I could give you an example of a number of light fixtures I’ve seen where the shape of the light fixture is dominant and the way the light works out of the fixture is secondary, and I find that to be disappointing,” notes Finne. “You feel like the designer made a piece of sculpture and then threw a light in at the end because they had to have a light fixture. I’m not so interested in that. I’m interested in the shape of the fixture and the way the light emits out of the fixture as being as integral as humanly possible, so you can’t separate the shape of the fixture from the way the light emits—nor can you separate the way the light emits from the shape of the fixture.”
As for other lighting in Venice House, the 5,604-square-foot abode features Bruck LED accent lights and HALO LED downlights, and the importance of LED lighting—as well as its evolution—is a topic Finne is happy to expand upon. “LED lighting over the last 10-plus years has revolutionized lighting.
I was certainly one of the early devotees, and they have made such enormous strides in the last few years,” he says. “I look forward to every new year because the LED technology just keeps on improving, and the energy consumption is startling. All of our projects are 100% LED and the amount of energy demand on the house and the structure drops dramatically.” Finne also thinks the color rendition that LEDs are able to do is fantastic today compared to when he first starting using them about eight to ten years ago. “Back then the color was horrible,” he admits. “In those days, we ended up using LEDs in what I call ‘lesser spaces’—certainly not in a main living space— because the client would say, ‘I look like a ghost in here.’”
While praising LEDs, Finne does have at least one caveat that he was willing to share. “My only complaint about LEDs at the moment is that a lot of times we will use a halogen fixture and put in an LED bulb rather than use a 100% LED fixture because, unfortunately, the 100% LED fixtures are still running significantly higher in cost right now than a halogen lamp,” he says. “Soraa makes fantastic MR-16 replacement lamps. You just plug an LED into a halogen, and you have the same performance as an all LED fixture—but you’ve saved about 15% cost.”
In terms of what he’s working on right now, Finne is taking his steel fixtures in a different direction and also has a new fixture in the works called Puls Fixture Pools. Earlier on in his career, Finne also designed a number of fixtures using blown glass. “I have a very strong interest in glass design as well. I have not been working that realm currently, but I think the opportunity there is enormous,” he concludes. “Seattle is a glass art mecca. Dale Chihuly lives here, and there’s always been a huge glass community in the city. The symbiotic relationship between blown glass and light fixtures is something that I’ve always been really fascinated by.” ■
COMING IN APRIL INDUSTRY
DON PEIFER By
If you Google “Big companies and Innovation,” you’ll get an endless stream of scholarly articles explaining why big companies can’t innovate. One article went so far as to state that not only are large companies not equipped to innovate, they are designed to be bad at innovation. It makes sense. Resources in large companies don’t generally go to identifying new problems and new solutions; they go to greater operational efficiency with the solution that got the company to its current perch. With shareholders to please every quarter, tactical thinking consistently trumps the strategic. Innovation is mostly achieved via acquisition.
It is against the backdrop of this widely-held belief that we have the latest instalment of the DOE-sponsored L-Prize. With a prize money pool of over $10M, it is a competition that is designed to attract every manufacturer in the land. The goal, according to the L-Prize website, is to “catalyze transformative LED lighting innovation, products, and impact.” But, given the sponsor, it is clearly designed to reduce energy consumption in key applications, which is laudable. By targeting commercial sector lighting, which accounts for 37% of national lighting energy use, according to the website, the prize encourages competitors to prioritize sustainability and efficiency.
Historically, the L-prize has been the playground of the larger players. In 2011, Philips won the first L-Prize for their A-lamp replacement, despite not hitting the price
Philips Lighting won the 60-watt replacement bulb category of the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition in 2011.
Photo credit: Signify
target. The question hovering around the first prize was whether it was truly innovative, or whether it just tracked slightly ahead of the state-of-the-art. Said another way: would we have had a true LED incandescent replacement without the L-prize? Absolutely, although it wouldn’t have happened nearly as fast. Philips—and any other large player in the game—understood that $10M was a negligible line item in their annual revenue roll up, but they also saw the incredible marketing potential that came with the check. So, they threw resources and money at winning the competition, including critical cross-licensing of technology. It was a full-court press from a large company, and the result was “innovation” that to this day populates many sockets.
Where the past L-Prize targeted LED replacement A-lamps for residential
applications, this installment aims at the A-line luminaires in commercial applications. The judging consists of three rounds: a concept phase, a prototype phase and a fully baked system. This year’s L-Prize appears to again favor the larger, more established companies that can afford to throw considerable resources at R&D. Entry to the initial round is open, but the requirements are prohibitive—at least from the perspective of fleet-of-foot, bleedingedge start-ups. Let’s take a hypothetical scenario to illustrate the point. Say you are part of a small (less than 10 people) company that has developed an optical solution that would facilitate a paradigm shift in the spacing requirements, leading to power density reductions by 50%. That is exactly the kind of thing that the judging committee is looking for. Unfortunately, performance covers only a small fraction of the judges’ scoring requirements.
Category Requirements
Performance
Color
Controllability
Human Factors
User-Friendliness
Networking
Output, Efficacy, Lumen Maintenance, Driver Lifetime
Color Rendition, Chromaticity, Chromaticity Maintenance
White-tunability, Dimming, Luminaire-level Control, Sensor-ready and Upgradeable
Glare, Flicker
Modularity, Disassembly
Technical Interoperability, Application Interoperability, Addressability, Energy
Reporting, Control Strategies, System Resilience, Fault Detection and Diagnostics, Grid
Serviceability, Ease of installation and Reconfiguration
Table 1 illustrates a breakdown of the judging criteria. The requirements fall loosely into six main categories. The overwhelming majority of the requirements are designated to networking. So, if you were the previously described start-up with a breakthrough performance technology, but without a clear networking plan or the resources to address outlier events like load-shedding, your application would be in danger of falling through the cracks. Given the limited performance requirements of output and efficacy, your innovative and potentially impactful solution may not even register.
The DOE has attempted to counter-act scenarios like this by playing match-maker for smaller companies who may not be able to surround the specification. They offer to connect the dots with other applicants in the same boat, but whose technologies may have synergies with your own. That’s well-
intentioned, but who knows if the companies can work together to come up with a viable, holistic solution? Larger players, as seen in the previous L-prize, are much more adept at realizing an end-to-end strategy.
Despite the sense that the competition is set up to go to one of the Bigs again, I think it is important to zoom in and try to imagine the throughput. It appears the DOE—in setting these requirements—is basically creating a wish list for the product of the future. They are saying, “Attention lighting industry, this is what we want proliferated through the commercial built environment in 5 years.” That wish-list luminaire is impressive! All the boxes are checked: performance, quality, lifetime and smarts. If you consider where we were just two decades ago, the improvement would be shocking. Which brings me back to the original L-Prize: Philips/Signify announced
the results of recent testing on the A-lamp replacement that won the original prize. After 90,000 hours of testing (a hell of a long time given the duty cycles in the average home,) the lamp had lumen maintenance of over 90% and an average chromaticity shift (u’, v’) of less than 0.003. However, you wish to look at that, it’s a win. It’s a win for Signify, but it is also a win for the consumers who took a chance on a new technology. Perhaps, the DOE, in crafting the L-Prize, has figured out a way to do the impossible: create a venue where large companies can leverage their various business units and resources to create a product that is not only innovative but, ultimately, massively impactful. Does it look like your typical, piecemeal innovation where company A creates one innovation and company B creates another? Not really, but, given our current environmental crisis, who cares? The ends will certainly justify the means. Good luck to all the applicants.
Editor’s Note
After Don Peifer authored this story, designing lighting (dl) learned that his “Smash the Bulb” concept was recognized as one of the concept phase winners for the DOEL-prize. Good luck, Don!
Final Submission Date: 11/12/22
Announcement Date: tbd
IALD Int'l Lighting Design Awards Link
Final Submission Date: closed Announcement Date: tbd IES Illumination Awards
IES Illumination Awards Link
Final Submission Date: 2/18/22 Announcement Date: 6/6/22
IESNYC Lumen Awards
IESNYC Lumen Awards Link
Final Submission Date: closed Announcement Date: 6/16/22
LIT Design Awards Link
Final Submission Date: 10/22/22 Announcement Date: late Fall
Note: The 2021 Winners Celebration will be held on February 18 at 4 pm UTC. Join the event here
NLB Tesla Awards Link
Final Submission Date: 3/28/22
Announcement Date: 6/23/22
NLB Art & Science
NLB Art & Science Awards Link
Final Submission Date: Closed Announcement Date: 3/15/22
Women in Lighting Awards Link Final Submission Date: 4/30/22 Announcement Date: tbd
Schuler Shook
Garth Hemphill has joined Schuler Shook as our newest Principal.
Mayar Zamzam is the newest Lighting Design Intern at Schuler Shook.
Charlie Greene
Studio
Jen McCord for being named an Equity Partner at CGS
Dark Light Design
Michael Winston has joined Dark Light Design as a Lighting Designer.
CM Kling + Associates
Studio Director, Maria del Pilar Toro-Ortiz, CLD, IALD joins the firm expanding CMK’s presence in Mexico City and LATAM.
Atelier Ten
Atelier Ten is excited to announce the latest promotions in the US.
Madeline Gradillas, Prateek Jain, Saxon Gibbs, Maggie Smith, Liu Liu, Tess McNamara, Joseph Guida, Nicole Nishizawa, Aneri Shah
salutes our charter advertisers and we thank them for their support. We applaud the achievements of lighting practitioners and recognize the importance of their work in architecture and design.
salutes and thanks its advertisers for their support. We applaud the achievements of lighting practitioners and recognize the importance of their
Eve Gaut is not a lighting designer, but we chose her for the Up Close column because she is a worldclass marketeer creating PR for lighting designers throughout the world. Eve is the founder of Parrot PR and Marketing, and she co-founded a brilliant mentoring program called The Silhouette Awards with Katia Kolovea. This global program matches 20 young lighting designers with 20 mentors.
Eve explained that while most large lighting design firms have in-house marcomm, the small and midsize companies typically don’t need a full time PR person, nor do they have the budget, so they will outsource. I asked Eve about the role of PR in the business of lighting design, and she shared a few tips:
• Invest in great photography. What we do in our industry allows for brilliant images. She strongly suggests hiring a talented photographer who knows how to photograph lighting. She cited a few recent images of lighting jobs, where the lights were not energized, saying how important it is to use an architectural photographer and to give a tight brief. She encourages her clients not to be shy on spending money because the images can be used across so many different platforms. “A much stronger story will resonate with the editorial team when the images are strong,” she emphasized.
• Look beyond the lighting industry. Eve remarked that, so many times, lighting designers will work to get their jobs published in the lighting trade, while they ignore other channels. She explained, “If a lighting designer works on a hotel, I will submit that article to various hospitality magazines. If a residence has been designed with gorgeous landscape lighting, we will find an outlet for landscape that does not necessarily specialize in landscape lighting.” It is important to be seen in the right places
for the story you are telling or message you are conveying.
• Know your audience. She said that it is much better to have one strong consistent and repetitive message to a core audience, rather than multiple messages to the masses.
• Consistency is king. The more that a company is out there, the more visibility they will have, strengthening their brand. But, she cautioned not to over communicate, saying, “News is only news if you have something to share. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t share for the sake of it, as people will disengage.” She also cautions against radio silence for long periods of time, as people will wonder where you have been.
We also discussed manufacturers, and she emphasized a reciprocal process, saying, “To make the industry tick, luminaire manufacturers need PR to generate leads. Lighting companies all have great websites that say they are wonderful, but they need independent publications to build up the trust with exemplar case studies of where their lighting has worked alongside great lighting design to transform an environment.”
She shared a few nuggets about the financial side. Most PR firms work on a retainer, and the main goal is to build presence. Some contracts are based on metrics, such as the number of articles that are published. Other contracts are built on time, such as two or three days per month. She stressed the importance of setting and managing expectations. PR is a long-term strategy.
Eve concluded our conversation by saying, “Designers need to invest in a consistent strategy. They must have their own internal strategy before they can begin external marketing. You have to know what you want to achieve from the get go.”
“Designers need to invest in a consistent strategy. They must have their own internal strategy before they can begin external marketing. You have to know what you want to achieve from the get go.”
The smart landscape has ar rived.
SHUFFLE combines advanced technology and modern design to make outdoor spaces smart and connected. Integrating lighting, Wi-Fi, and s afety and communication devices, it creates a sense of security and well-being outdoors – enhancing the quality of life for residents and visitors.
SHUFFLE is a product of our collaboration with Schréder, a global leader in lighting and smart-city technologies for more than 100 years. Find us at landscapeforms.com or contact us toll free at 800.430.6205.
