City Center
Revitalization
A lighting design accepted by the City of Pittsfield, Massachusetts to revitalize their city center. This project was created with my fellow Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Master in Lighting group members: Kasey Holland, Kaela Kiefer, and Olivia Privitera.
Client Profile
City of Pittsfield, MA
Berkshire Lightscapes
Berkshire Lightscapes is a committee working with the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association (DPCA) to incorporate lighting applications intended to promote arts and public safety in the city. As part of a $100,000 project grant, the committee worked with our department [the Lighting Research Center] to come up with a lighting design plan that my master's classmates and I completed.
Design Goals
Revitalization
After meeting with the committee, the following lighting design considerations were made:
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The City of Pittsfield, MA is known for its theatrical history which should be echoed in the lighting design
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The site is usually used for city cultural arts events and festivals at night making safety and visibility foremost in the lighting design
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The city hall architecture is classic so lighting interventions must not be overly invasive
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The client is primarily interested in a design that ties the city hall to the main walkway and attracts visitors into the area
Site 1 Analysis
Pittsfield, MA City Hall
Pictured to the right, the Pittsfield, MA city hall features classic architecture and lightly illuminated with warm lighting. However, the warm lighting ads further emphasis to the building's wear and tear. The lighting behind the columns fails to reach the platform where visitors gather and performances occasionally take place. There are little to no lighting cues to direct public to the building.
Site 2 Analysis
Pittsfield, MA Dunham Mall
Located perpendicular to City Hall, Dunham Mall [pictured right] serves as a fairway to city hall. Office buildings on the right are not used at night, however, residences are located on the second level of the left side. As a result, any lighting interventions need to take light pollution and/or stray reflections into resident windows.
Client Advertisement
Photograph by: Kaela Kiefer
Photograph by: Kaela Kiefer
Photograph by: Kaela Kiefer
DESIGN SOLUTION
An Inviting Space
Site 1: City Hall
City Hall Elevation Rendered by: Kaela Kiefer
City Hall lighting design rendering by: Olivia Privitera
City Hall Elevation Rendered by: Kaela Kiefer
For the city hall facade, we proposed color tunable linear wall wash LED light strips to provide even illumination and softer shadows while affording decoration options for themed events. The addition of color also serves to ad depth to the facade drawing visitors towards the building. Similarly, we proposed narrow beam spotlights to illuminate the columns with white light to add elegance while increasing contrast between the columns and the facade behind them. White LED handrails were proposed to provide continuity from the columns while adding to light levels on the steps to enhance visibility. Lastly, white LED wide-beam floodlights were proposed to frame the sides of the building and help guide views towards the building from far away.
Site 2: Dunham Mall
Dunham Mall Elevation Rendered by: Kaela Kiefer
Dunham Mall rendering by: Olivia Privitera
Dunham Mall Elevation Rendered by: Kaela Kiefer
The area lighting in the Dunham Mall site was already sufficed by the restaurant veranda and street lights. As a result, we simply proposed theatrical projector lights be placed on the existing street poles and angled towards the walkway. This addition serves three main purposes: 1) It provides an added layer of light on the pathway to enhance visibility 2) Visibility is improved without spraying light into resident windows above 3) The theatrical lighting technology incorporates gobos that can add to themed nights and events or other important city advertisements.
Proposed Lighting Design Light Levels
This portion of the project allowed me to use my 3D design skills. I took the site elevation and plan drawings rendered by a team member, built the sites in 3D software [VectorWorks], and transferred the sites to AGI32 [lighting calculation and rendering software] to calculate how much light out lighting design would add to the site. Each proposed light fixture was programmed into AGI32 in the places recommended. As shown above, no more than 200 lux of light was added to the space with most of the light coming from the flood lights framing City Hall to direct visitors towards the building. About 100 lux of light was added to steps to add a layer of light for visibility. Ultimately, the calculations show that the proposed lighting design is viable to achieve the client's design goals without further contributing to excess light pollution.
Results
Our lighting design proposal was accepted by the Berkshire LightScapes committee and is en route to be installed in late 2018. See press article here and view full project presentation using button below.
Luxury Hotel + Resort Wellness Retreat
A lighting design created for a master's course project at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) directed by Abhay Wadhwa, Principal of AWA Lighting Designers (New York City, NY)
Design Scope
Lighting for Wellness
For this project, Professor Wadhwa provided a series of rendered images for a luxury wellness retreat in Gurgaon, India. The task was to create a lighting design for the interior and exterior of the site.
Site Analysis
Exterior
After performing research on the site location and studying the site plans, the following design considerations were created for the site exterior:
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Gurgaon India sees temperatures as high as 105 degrees in the summer. The design needed to provide a "cooling" feeling.
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The visitor profile is largely comprised of high income folks looking to escape and relax as the location is remote from the main cities and highways. As a result, the design needed to preserve the remote aspect of the site.
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The site featured 8 identical towers of various sizes that housed various activities from dining to lounging. The designed needed to create easy way-finding through each section and tie the interiors together.
Site Analysis
Interior
After performing research on the site location and studying the site plans, the following design considerations were created for the site interior:
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The site featured 8 identical towers of various sizes that housed various activities from dining to lounging. The designed needed to create easy way-finding through each section and tie the interiors together.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Cool at the head | Warm at the feet
Overall Design Concept
Distilled in Time
Provided that visitors are attracted to this location to escape the daily hustle of life and relax or heal, I created a design concept that virtually distills visitors in the time of sunset. Sunsets feature cool blues and violets above the head with glints of warm oranges below us as the sun sets. Fittingly, the cool and warm colors are associated with relaxation and comfort respectively.
Design Solution
Entrance: A warm embrace
When guests enter the resort, they come to a circular valet entrance in front of a large curtain wall that guards the resort within. I incorporated warm LED lighting beneath the hedges and grazing the bottom of the columns. This was intended to create a sort of "warm embrace" at their landing. This is juxtaposed to the cool violet/blue curtain wall above them providing the cooling element.
LARGE CURTAIN WALL AT ENTRANCE
I proposed color tunable LED strips to be placed in a cove built in the ground and on top of the wall in order to create the cool color sunset gradient.
COVE LIGHTING UNDER HEDGES
I proposed 3000k LED strips to be recessed in rails underneath the hedges to create the warm glow underneath them.
Design Solution
Entrance Walkway
After guests leave their vehicles, they are guided through a wooden slatted walkway above a stream of water that leads to the main foyer and first tower. I proposed LED strips to be placed in the wooden slats above as well as luminous panels for the flat covers in order to create to create smooth continuous warm lighting to guide their path and keep the feet warm while incorporating glints of cool colors to hint at the coolness to come.
WALKWAY LIGHTING
I proposed 3000k LED strips to be recessed between the wooden slats as well as 3000k luminous ceiling panels to created the warm and even illumination on the path.
VERTICAL SLATS BEHIND MAIN ENTRANCE
I proposed LED MR16 lamps with violet color filters to be mounted above the flat walkway cover and angled to graze the vertical slats behind the main entrance.
Design Solution
Tower Interiors
After guests walk through the even and warmly lit walkway, they enter one of eight towers that are identical in architectural design but vary in size
and purpose. As a result, I proposed the same lighting design scheme for the tower walls to maintain continuity between each tower. The scheme echoes the "cool at the head, warm at the feet" theme of the entrance walkway with additional lighting elements to better illuminate the differing purposes of each tower.
TOWER INTERIOR
For the interior tower walls, I proposed a double sided cove be built to divide the "headspace" of the tower from the "ground floor." LED Strip lights are embedded on top to illuminate above with the "cool" purple colored theme and "warm" 3000k light below. The cove is introduced to both hide the light source and provide the hints of color throw a wall washing method.
GRAND FOYER
The largest and most central tower in the resort has a grand stair case leading to its center and leads guests to the back of the resort where the pools are located. As a result, I proposed wide beam down lights to be mounted above the walkway for general illumination. For way-finding, I proposed LED light strips to be embedded in the staircase steps hide the light source while providing smooth,even lighting on the steps.
RESTUARANT LIGHTING
For the two towers that house dining areas, a series of 3500k linear down lights were proposed to be mounted above the dining areas. This was intended to illuminate the food and surroundings with warm lighting to maintain the resort's theme, however slightly cooler to create a slightly cleaner look to faces and surfaces.
PLAN VIEW: A plan of the resort interior shown above exemplifies how the simple lighting scheme offers continuity throughout each tower while providing specific lighting treatments for the grand staircase foyer and restaurants.
Design Solution
Site Exterior
After exiting the resort towers, guests are met with a grand pool leading to the back of grounds where a lake meets the resort. Palm trees decorate the area around the pool and separate the leisure area from the living compounds behind them. The resort towers were also given the same lighting scheme as the interiors, cool-warm lighting illuminates the pools, and the trees are elegantly up lit.
TOWER EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Similar to the lighting installation for the large curtain wall at the entrance, the tower exterior facade is grazed with the theme lighting. LED strips are embedded in the already existing tower facade extrusion that lines the perimeter of each face. In order to avoid glare, a grating of some sort is proposed to be placed over the cove created by the LED strips.
RETREAT PALM TREES
3000k MR lamps were proposed to be recessed underneath the palm trees to graze them with warm lighting. This lighting treatment speaks to the theme while offering slight way-finding when in the back of grounds.
PLAN VIEW: A Plan view of the site exteriors exemplifies how the lighting treatment echoes that of the interiors, creating the entrance as a sort of beacon for guests to recognize from afar that shields the resort within it.
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