The Lighting Control Innovation Award was created in 2011 as part of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s Illumination Awards program, which recognizes professionalism, ingenuity and originality in lighting design. LCA is proud to sponsor the Lighting Control Innovation Award, which recognizes projects that exemplify the effective use of lighting controls in nonresidential applications.
This month, we will explore an innovative installation of lighting controls at the New York City offices of R/GA, a full-service digital agency. Design by Tillotson Design Associates. Photography by John Muggenborg, Mugg Photo. Lighting controls by Crestron (Pharos to control the DMX) and Ketra (wireless control technology).
To meet the client’s expectations for flexibility and adhere to strict budgetary limitations, the design provided a backdrop for fostering ideas and growth. Inspired by employees and their work methods as well as the beautiful exposed waffleslab ceiling, the lighting design was conceived through site visits to the client’s existing offices to assess light levels, lighting quality, and the way they worked.
The new design employed an indirect lighting strategy with new LED technology that was housed in common modular equipment. Emphasizing the structural module, each coffer in the waffle-slab ceiling is uplit with a tunable retrofit PAR38 LED lamp. 10,000 lamps were bundled into groups of 4 individual sockets, creating a raw and industrial luminaire. The proprietary LED technology uses RGBW LED chips to accurately produce and maintain any color point within one lamp envelope. Derived from a rich combination of sources, colors maintain high CRI across all R values. The result is beautiful light with a single clean shadow.
A DMX control system communicates wirelessly to each zone of 4 lamps through an area net-work. Throughout the day the lighting system runs through a custom designed and calibrated, circadian rhythm program, which begins at 2700K in the morning, subtly shifts to 4000K at midday and gradually warms back down in the evening. The overall experience is enriched with local ability to override the system to incorporate color and alternate programs, allowing for limitless possibilities in programming dynamic scenes and events. Granular control of the lamps provides the ability to match the
lighting above individual work rooms, “huddles” to a chosen pantone color to be used as an indicator of occupancy and/or space. This single gesture engages design and technology and allows for transformation and growth in today’s ever changing office landscape.
Each 3’–0” square coffer in the waffle-slab ceiling is uplit with a cluster of four tunable retrofit PAR38 lamps mounted to one J-box.
This singular gesture creates a cohesive and flexible system that is proliferated throughout the whole office and co-exists with exposed sprinkles, HVAC, and plumbing.
The reception area is open and welcoming, displaying the vastness of the office.
The color temperature of the open office begins at 2700K in the mornings, part of an automatic program designed to support circadian regulation.
The open office reaches a 4000K color temperature at midday automatically creating a vibrant atmosphere.
The central common space of the office can be used as a meeting space as well as a cafeteria, allowing for the gathering of employees.
During special events the common area can be transformed through color while maintaining a perimeter of white work light.
The open office is interrupted by “huddles” lit from above using direct linear LED fixtures that backlight polycarbonate panels matching the CCT of the uplights.
Conference rooms are enhanced by an additional layer of downlights that can be controlled separately from the uplights for greater flexibility.
Studios and other special rooms employ the same single gesture, engaging the design solution and limitless control.
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