Denver Botanic Gardens Freyer Newman Center

Company: davis partnership

lead lighting Designer: lisa bartlett, davis partnership

additional lighting designer: gregg adams, bcer

controls designer: alyssa weber and jarrod reimer, visual interest

Location: denver, colorado

Photo credit: frank ooms photography

The 50,000 square foot Center for Science, Art and Education is the long-awaited final component of a botanic garden campus in Denver, adding much-needed education, gallery, auditorium, and archival spaces. The beloved institution, 24 acres in size, is sited amid an historic residential area with a vocal neighborhood organization. The location was both thrilling and challenging for the design team, making a sensitive lighting and controls design that fit the nighttime neighborhood context crucial.

The Gardens’ desire to be responsible neighbors by managing light at the neighborhood boundary ensured that lighting controls discussions began early in the project. The Gardens required an adjustable system capable of tuning light levels after the project’s completion, both in support of their evolving program as well as the neighborhood sensitivity. Even during aiming and controls scene setting, the team received ongoing feedback from neighborhood representatives to ensure the light levels were appropriate for the residential context.

With a diverse program including public auditorium, library, indoor and outdoor classrooms, offices, research and collections spaces, the designers worked extensively with seven different user groups and the facilities team to define each area’s controls needs, sequence of operations, and method of maintenance and programming. A unique wired/wireless hybrid lighting control system utilizing multiple control protocols satisfied the Gardens’ requirement for flexibility to update programming in response to evolving occupant needs over time.

In addition to meeting the project’s stringent budget and fast-paced schedule, the lighting controls design contributed to LEED Gold certification and a lighting design 20% below 2015 IECC allowed usage. App-based and touchscreen control offer an intuitive interface for stakeholders to adjust lighting levels, scenes and automation settings at any time, an activity the design team has witnessed the Curator and A/V Director enthusiastically undertaking on several post-occupancy visits.

Denver water complex redevelopment

Company: stantec

lead lighting Designer: rachel fitzgerald, stantec

additional lighting designers: Katherine Stekr, Colin Inderwish, and Vannessa Pederson

Location: denver, colorado

Colorado’s oldest and largest water utility recently completed a redevelopment of their historic  34-acre operations complex, consisting of eight new or renovated facilities, including a new  186,000 square-foot administration building. As a prominent water resource manager in the  West, the revitalized complex embodies environmental stewardship by implementing  sustainable and biophilic design principles. It is designed to achieve LEED Platinum and for  compliance with WELL Building and Net-Zero Energy standards. Lighting systems were designed for efficiency, user comfort and to be minimalistic,  complementing the eb and flow of the architectural elements. The building form maximized  daylight and views.

Control strategies include perimeter and skylight daylight harvesting,  occupancy and vacancy sensors, local dimming, and task tuning. Extensive daylight simulations  were overlaid with electric lighting control zone for optimized performance. The connected  lighting load is 0.82W/SF, a 36% code reduction. However, with 50-75% trim levels set in office  areas, the usage is greatly reduced. Users are encouraged to use locally provided task lights to  supplement the available ambient lighting solutions. Illuminance levels were balanced with IES  recommendations and WELL Building EML requirements for circadian lighting, resulting in  higher vertical and horizontal light levels as compared to traditional office space.  

The unique post-tension (PT) slab structural system, consisting of dense webs of concealed  structural cabling in the exposed structure, created a design challenge for locating junction boxes and luminaires. This resulted in a flowing, articulated variation in the application of open  structure lighting solutions. In addition to the rigorous sustainability and wellbeing goals,  designing within an affordable budget was key to the project’s success. Budget analysis  included VE evaluation of more than eight luminaire manufacturers for open office lighting,  resulting in many iterations of vertical and horizontal photometrics to ensure compliance with  performance goals. The new complex is successfully operating, serving 1.5 million metropolitan  customers.  

DESERT MOUNTAIN CLUBHOUSE

Company: robert singer

HALAS HALL EXPANSION & RENOVATION

Company: ILLUME

The renovation and expansion of a leading professional football team’s headquarters and training facility, Halas Hall, prior to their 100th anniversary season  builds on the organization’s rich history, weaving together legacy and innovation. The lighting design supports the architectural vision to connect players to the  team’s past while providing high-performance training offerings centered on the athletes’ wellbeing. 

Linear slot light patterning facilitates framing ceiling transitions and reinforcing the updated architectural language, while thoughtful detailing of concealed  linear accent lighting further shapes the emphasis on warm walnut wood and textured stone and tile walls. Focused accenting of graphics from a quiet layer of  regressed trackheads throughout the facility celebrates the team’s heritage while offering future flexibility. Selective use of decorative pendants provide elements  of hospitality and redefine the typical approach to the recovery, nutrition and treatment experience. Light fixtures locations thoughtfully harmonize about  furniture or equipment layouts to minimize potential glare for players and staff. 

At the building expansion’s hinge, a custom artwork installation featuring 100 glass rods anchors the double-height nutrition space. Extensive discussion and  lighting calculation studies to uniformly accent the varied rod materiality assisted in driving the graphic rod specification. A glass-encased stair, accentuated by  a soft linear perimeter accent, ties the nutrition to the coaches lounge above and reinforces the concept of improved transparency and collaboration.  

AV-integrated and scene-based dimming control in feature spaces assists in creating a flexible facility that can easily transition between settings that motivate  and energize or calm and relax while the finely-scheduled zoning simultaneously accommodates AV-heavy environments where screen glare and contrast  becomes priority. The all-LED lighting design resulted in designed energy savings of 25% below code-allowable thresholds, and extensive use of dimming  throughout the building empowers users to tailor light levels to personal comfort levels and enable further energy reduction. 

HUNTRESS AND LUMI

Company: robert singer

JLL

Company: STANTEC

LEAD DESIGNER: VANNESSA PEDERSON

This real estate services company wanted to refresh their existing office space. The goals were to better represent their corporate missions of being a global leader in creating sustainable spaces, engaging clients, and transforming workspaces while creating value. The renovation recharges open office areas, private offices, collaboration spaces, and features a boardroom to host clients. The design concept was to create an environment leaving an impression of biophilic patterns, create visual tension through materials, and additional pops of luxury. The office remodel was designed for LEED Silver.

The private offices for agents on interior core were only periodically occupied when agents had desk work. Therefore, they appeared dark for a portion of the workday. Overall, the client felt that the existing lighting felt too dark and desired the feeling of brightness throughout. The design team collaborated on methods to make the spaces feel bright even if offices were not in use. Finishes were chosen with high reflectance values, curtain walls were utilized to allow spill of ambient light between spaces, and lighting layouts were optimized to provide ample ambient lighting. 

The original office lighting max/min workplane uniformity was 3.4:1 with limited vertical lighting, the new lighting design had a max/min workplane uniformity of 1.5:1 and much higher vertical light levels to create the feeling of brightness throughout. All areas have dimming zones, occupancy sensors, and the perimeter lights have photocells for daylight harvesting. Long linear fixtures were ordered with dual circuiting to allow for portions of linear in daylight zone to be daylight harvested. The resulting lighting installation came in at 0.69 W/sf which was 31% better than code baseline.

The lighting budget was an important factor. The design team coordinated high quality, good value architectural and decorative fixtures with high end appearances but avoided high price tags.

2020 ILLUMINATION AWARDS - LOCAL MERIT AWARD RECIPIENTS