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.