Revitalising Student Facilities

We are enjoying working with Bath based Hewitt Studios again on two exciting refurbishment projects at North Shropshire College’s Oswestry and Walford Campuses.

North Shropshire College are looking to refurbish some key spaces and Hewitt Studios have developed some exciting contemporary designs to revitalise the current facilities.

At the Walford campus, the current social club is being converted into a new open plan refectory area. It is proposed that the existing false ceiling be removed to reveal the vaulted ceiling above and that new insulated timber cladding be installed. The Lighthouse Design Partnership were appointed to design the lighting for the new space. A series of suspended direct/indirect pendant luminaires have been proposed which will provide the functional lighting required together with some uplighting which will bring the new vaulted ceiling area to life. Integrated linear LED is proposed within a concealed detail to the interface between the two ceiling types adding visual interest and also some additional ambient light. Energy efficient LED downlights provide lighting within the new plasterboard ceiling areas and directional downlights provide accent lighting to the steps at level changes.

As part of the lighting design process, lighting simulation software was used to model the space and ensure that the lighting distribution was satisfactory.

Lighting Simulation of Refectory Area

False colour rendering [used to evaluate resultant lighting distribution]

Visual of Proposed Refectory Area by Architect [copyright Hewitt Studios LLP]

At the Oswestry Campus of North Shropshire College, The Architects are proposing that the existing reception area has an extensive face-lift. A new timber slatted ceiling is proposed together with the addition of a feature tree and planter providing a new focal point within the space. Acoustic timber panels are also proposed so as to soften the space from both an aesthetic and acoustic perspective. The Lighthouse Design Partnership have proposed some new high efficiency LED pendant luminaires for the triple height space together with a series of integrated linear LED installations concealed within details to the reception desk, planter and acoustic panels.

Visual of Proposed Reception Area by Architect [copyright Hewitt Studios LLP]

SGS Berkeley Green Skills Centre

We have been working on this exciting project with Architects Hewitt Studios, Contractor Kier and Electrical Contractors Axiom Building Services. The first phase of the Skills Centre was completed recently and will be a great asset to South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. The Skills Centre was originally a vast existing engineering hall and has now been transformed into an impressive, dynamic and sustainable new education facility. 

SGS Skills Centre Berkeley Green - Photograph copyright Martin Cleveland

The Lighthouse Design Partnership LLP were commissioned to design the lighting for the key atrium space which forms the centrepiece of the building and around which the various teaching and ancillary spaces are placed. With a carefully considered selection of materials and architectural layout, the architects have successfully reinvigorated the building whilst its remains sympathetic to its industrial style and heritage. 

The lighting brief was to create a dramatic and dynamic space whilst meeting the modest allocated budget. All of the luminaires used employed LED technology so as to reduce maintenance requirements and energy consumption. Lighting components in the atrium included narrow beam spotlighting to accent the steel columns, linear luminaires providing local emphasis to doorways and blue led lighting to uplight the roof soffit and provide accent lighting to the original staircase structure. Large suspended pendant luminaires were used to provide general working light to the atrium and these were of an industrial style to complement the architecture. In the adjacent flexible use spaces, lines of suspended linear LED luminaires, again of an industrial style, were used. These were dimmable so as to enable the lighting levels to be adjusted to suit the required tasks. As part of the detailed design process, the atrium space was modelled in 3D and the lit distribution refined prior to finalising the specifications. 

3D model created as part of the lighting design process

The project has been featured on websites like Archdaily, Architizer, DesignBoom , Domus and Treehugger where you can read about it in more detail.

Lumiere Festival London

We recently visited the Lumiere Festival in London and thought we would share some photos we took. It was a great evening out despite the fact that half the world seemed to be there!

There were some great installations and it's good to see that light festivals are becoming more common in the UK now. The largest is in Durham which first took place in 2009. Hopefully we'll get the chance to travel up some time to see that one....

Keyframes by Groupe LAPS

Lumineoles by Porte par le vent

Elephantastic

Garden of Light by TILT

The Light of The Spirit by Patrice Warrener

Reykjavik - Not just the Northern Lights

It's good to get out of the office sometimes so we recently took a small trip to visit Reykjavik in Iceland, a place we'd wanted to visit for some time. It was a great trip and we wanted to share some of the things we saw. Our first impressions [architecturally speaking] as we approached the city from the airport were a little disappointing - lots of largely characterless concrete low rise buildings in drab finishes. We soon found, however, that this was very unrepresentative of the general character of the city and ultimately fell in love with the place and vowed to return one day.

Kex Hostel - Great place for a bite, beer and chat. 

Before making our trip we had stumbled across this blog by Rachael Gibson suggesting some great places to eat on a budget in the city. By pure coincidence our hotel was located very near to one of them - Hostel Kex - so we called in for a bite on our first night. What a great place - took us back to our student days....Amazing food and ambience - we were sorely tempted to come back every night. We loved the magnetic letters on the lift shaft and the industrial influenced interior design. Nice to see real candles on the table too - a good example of how lighting can influence the fell of a place.

The Hallgrimskirkja Church, Reykjavik

The Hallgrimskirkja Church designed by Guðjón Samuel is the most dominant landmark in Reykjavik and can be seen from numerous locations in and around the city. Some fantastic views from the viewing galleries in the clock tower too!

We took a long walk around the city and were surprised to find that the traditional buildings of the 20th Century were clad in corrugated metal cladding as opposed to the timber cladding we were expecting and which is of course prevalent in Scandinavia. The chalet style architecture was apparently influenced by the Norwegians but we read somewhere that the iron cladding was imported from England! 

The above building did have timber cladding - we took this photo as we liked the two Louis Poulsen lights at either side of the doorway! 

The Harpa Concert Hall designed by Henning Larsen Architects and completed in 2011 is a striking contemporary building located right on the seafront. The glazed facade is cellular as you can see and uses a variety of glass coatings to create a passive dynamic lit effect during the day as the different angles create shimmer and movement. Integrated RGB linear LED integrated into the cells is used to create an active lighting effect after the hours of darkness. The cellular theme is continued through into the atrium ceiling as shown in the photo below.

The next day we ventured out to visit some of the neighbouring sites. The volcanic landscape was stunning. We visited Þingvellir National Park which was to some extent the birthplace of modern Iceland as it was apparently where the first parliament was assembled. The area is also in a rift valley which marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The rifts caused by the movement of the two plates are pretty impressive. 

As we drove through the landscape, plumes of steam hinted at the volcanic thermal energy lurking under the earth's crust. The Icelanders harness this steam for energy production and heating. It also provides a spectacle for tourists visiting the geysers which can send superheated water metres up into the air.

Back in Reykjavik after a day touring the surroundings we stumbled across another hidden gem. This time it was Mikkeller and Friends - a great bar which served speciality beers. It was a great place to relax after a days travelling around. 

Mikkeller and Friends

We were sad to say goodbye to Reykjavik but will definitely be back some day. We did see the Northern lights too but photos can't do that justice! 

Cheers!

Linear LED - testing, testing, testing 1,2,3.....

We have been busy testing and reviewing some linear LED samples for a hotel project we are working on in Bristol. It is proposed that linear LED be used to define the roof-line of the building at night. The colour temperature and brightness of the LED needs to be assessed so that the overall lit effect is complementary to the other architectural lighting proposed to the building façade.

We always believe in reviewing real life samples of lighting equipment  prior to specification - data sheets and other specification material is all very useful but never tells the full story! The linear LED samples we have been testing are available in three different lumen outputs [as well as many different colour temperature combinations] - in this case we carried out some night-time trials and have selected the lower output version [it is often the case with exterior lighting that 'a little goes a long way'....].

We like the robustness and simplicity of the electrical connections on these samples too - the last thing a contractor wants to do is solder small wires whilst on a cherry picker....

Winner! Surface Design Awards 2015

We were at the Surface Design Awards today and after a little nail biting were pleased to find out that The Hub Building for Hereford College of Arts won the Exterior Light & Surface category!

We worked closely on the façade lighting scheme with the Architects Hewitt Studios - the concept took inspiration from the pseudo-random appearance of pianola music. We're including the original concept here - we think that the actual façade appearance at night looks pretty close to the concept visualisation...

Surface Design Awards 2015

We are really looking forward to attending the Surface Design Awards on 12th February. The Hub Building for Hereford College of Arts has been short-listed for the Light & Surface Exterior category. The new hub building was designed by Hewitt Studios LLP with lighting design by The Lighthouse Design Partnership LLP. 

Fingers crossed!!