Creative Educational Lighting

Located at 103 South Jefferson St., in Richmond, VA, one will find the newly renovated VCU Brandcenter. The building is a combination of the reclaiming of one of Richmond's oldest hotels and an addition to the south wall of the existing structure. The space is unique, fun, and creative. Large fenestrations allow for more than enough natural light, however, the amount of natural light in the space is not overwhelming. In addition, skylights are used and the floors have been painted bright, vibrant colors to add to he warmth of the room. The floors have been painted with a medium-gloss finish which reflects the light very well. A staircase defines the separation between the existing structure and the new addition and above the staircase is a large, long skylight which allows for additional natural lighting in the space.

Even the study areas and basement are well lit. As you move down into the building the colors of the walls become lighter and then white so that the small amount of natural light illuminating the space can be utilized. As for the existing building, the front facade fenestrations are large enough and the interior space is open enough that the natural light illuminates the space quite well.

The light in the space is a warm and there is really nothing I would do to change the lighting. The team who worked on designing this project did an excellent job. Perhaps the only change I would suggest would be to try using solar tubing or fiber optics instead of traditional, artificial lighting in those areas that receive the least amount of daylight.

L.Miller

Restaurant Lighting

Today I visited the Chipotle Mexican restaurant located at 4930 W. Broad St., across from the Willow Lawn shopping center. It is approximately 12pm. The main entrance to the restaurant is located on the west wall, facing 50th Street, while the south wall with the most windows, faces south, towards W. Broad.

As I enter the space I notice a strong contrast between the back of the restaurant (to my left) and the front of the restaurant (to my right), in terms of lighting. It is obvious that the building had been designed with the user in mind in the sense that the front of the restaurant is where customers sit and eat, while the back of the restaurant is for the kitchen, storage, and restrooms. More privacy is needed in the latter areas and so less natural light has been provided there. The contrast between the naturally lit areas and the artificially lit areas is difficult for my eye to adjust to at first. The reason is because my right eye is adjusting to a larger amount of natural light flooding the space while the other is adjusting to a darker areas in the back. In addition, the use of materials such as corrugated metal and air ducts, which have a high reflectance value and therefore reflects a lot of light back into the space, adds to the juxtaposition of the contrast between light and dark, and creates a lot of glare. The intensity of the natural light entering the space from the south wall is very intense and the color of the light is white.

Chipotle's signature design approach has an industrial feel to it. Often, the mechanics of a building are left exposed and painted red so occupants can see air ducts, pipes, and ventilation systems that would normally be hidden by acoustical ceiling panels. As a part of this design scheme, Chipotle has also chosen to use small, industrial pendent lights. There is also a small amount of wall lighting to illuminate artwork. With the dark color red on the majority of the walls and on the ceiling, the small pendent lights are not sufficient for lighting the space adequately. With such an emphasis on the view along the south-facing wall, it would be nice to let natural light into the space in other ways, such as, through the use of solar tubes, saw tooths, or even skylights. This would be a nice addition to the back of the restaurant. It would allow employees to enjoy some of the benefits of natural light, such as increased productivity, while maintaining privacy in the back of the restaurant.

L. Miller

Lighting in the Fan

It is about 3 in the afternoon and I am sitting in the bedroom of an old, historical home in what is known as the Fan District in Richmond, VA. The house faces south-west so the majority of the direct sunlight enters the space in the mid afternoon. Even though there are three large fenestrations that make up the majority of the street-facing wall (south-west), the amount of direct light into the space is minimal. There are no other fenestrations in the room so the intensity of the light is not that strong. The light creates a nice feel in the space, however, even in the brightest time of the day additional, artificial lighting is needed in the back of the room for tasks such as reading. The color of the light is white to a warm yellow-y butter color. It is subtle and not overwhelming. Because the amount of illumination occuring in the space is minimal, the amount of lumination is also minimal and therefore, so is the amount of exitance. The door to the room is toward the back, up against the farthest wall and the area with the least amount of natural light illuminating the space. Therefore, as I enter the space, because the light does not enter directly and because the back of the room is darker than the front, the adaptation process for my eyes is minimal because they can adjust slowly as I continue to walk deeper and deeper into the room.

One way to address the lack of sufficient light in the back of the room would be to install a light tube. That way natural light could enter specified areas in the back of the room and would not create glare or the harmful, harsh damage of direct light from an open skylight. Also, another fenestration could be placed on the north wall which would allow for natural daylighting but which would also not receive direct sunlight.

Lighting at the Power Plant at Lucky Strike

It is September 17th, 2010 about 11am. I am at the Power Plant at Lucky Strike building in Richmond, VA. This is one of three of the original buildings that belonged to the Lucky Strike cigarette company back in the 1930's when Richmond was a big cigarette-making town. At the time, the building's purpose was to provide the electricity to the neighboring building which was the factory for making cigarettes. Today, however, the building serves as a commercial space for Odell Associates, an architect firm.

As I enter the space I am immediately taken aback by the volume of natural light that fills the space. There is really no need for artificial lighting at all. Tall fenestrations take up most of each of the four walls, leaving very little brick for structural purposes. In addition, two large skylights that span from the front of the building to the back can be found in the ceiling. The intensity of the light is not overwhelming by any means, it is really the perfect amount of light. And, because of where the building is situated, there is no direct sunlight at this time. I imagine the interior space of building will not experience any direct sunlight until about 3pm when the sun is more south in the sky and headed towards the west. The color of the light is warm, perhaps just a bit yellow-y. This might be due to the fact that the bricks that make up the majority of the building's structural shell are a beige color that looks like it's accumulated a nice patina to it over the years. The amount of exitance appears to be almost non-existance because the materials in the space do not have high reflectance qualities and so there is not much surface area for the light to refect off of. This is nice because that means there is very little glare, if any at all, and it also means there is very little luminance. There is, however, a great deal of illumance occuring in the space because of the shear number of windows. The illuminance is not overpowering, and as I said, there is very little direct sunlight entering the space at this time.

I would not change anything about the lighting in the space, at least for the time and day in which I visited it. Even though there was a great deal of illumance due to the number and size of fenestrations, my eyes needed very little adaptation upon entering the space. And, because I was taking pitcures and measurements while I was there, I found the brightness very easy and comfortable for working conditions.

L. Miller

Lighting at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

It is September 14th, 2010 and I am sitting in the Cochrane Atrium at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA. It is about 1pm on a beautiful sunny afternoon. I notice my eyes begin to squint slightly. I look around to see where the sunlight is entering the space but find that there is no direct sunlight at all. Light creeps in through every which way, but no direct sunlight can be found. Even though the light is not entering the space directly, there is a high degree of contrast and luminance which makes it difficult to discern the colors and shapes of the sculptures in the room. In front of me and behind me there are large windows that extend from the floor to the ceiling. In addition, the perimiter of the ceiling is composed only of glass which allows for additional natural light to enter the space. I find that given enough time, and as my eye begin to adjust to the contrast between the natural light and the interior space I can more easily see and make out the colors and shapes of the scuptures. Due to the sheer size of the space and the fact that the majority of the walls are painted white the luminous qualities of the space are exemplified, making the space bright and projecting a very suffused kind of lighting affect.

Overall, I think the use and manipulation of natural light in the space has been accomplished very successfully. Natural light is always refreshing and welcoming and one would think that a museum would want to promote and encourage patrons to enter the space.To improve the lighting in the space I would utilize thin, non-intrusive blinds that can be adjusted depending on the time of day and the amount of natural light entering the space. This way, the degree to which natural light floods the space can be manipulated and, when needed the intense luminous qualities of the space can be toned down. Then, in the evening when the sunlight is not so direct, the blinds can be rolled up.