Question: Basement lighting

[Soraa 0]

SORAA PERFECTLY ILLUMINATES GLASS ART AT THE CROCKER ART MUSEUM
Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, announced that its full visible spectrum LED lamps were installed to illuminate the Sacramento-based Crocker Art Museum’s exhibition “Glass for the New Millennium: Masterworks from the Kaplan-Ostergaard Collection”.

“When illuminating glass, color rendering is the most important element. You must have true, accurate colors to bring out the best in glass,” said Matthew Isble, Exhibit Designer and Chief Preparator for the Crocker Art Museum. “We wanted something in the 3000K range that would mimic sunlight. Soraa LED lamps perfectly light the art glass pieces, making them sing.”

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In putting together this important show, Isble and the team from the Crocker reviewed and tested LED lamps from four different companies. As they narrowed down their choices, the Crocker team opted to visit Soraa’s LED fabrication facility in Fremont, Calif. Ultimately they chose Soraa VIVID MR16™ and PAR 38 LED lamps for the exhibition.

“Glass for the New Millennium” challenges how the public perceives mass, volume and form of glass. Surveying the work of 70 dynamic global artists who push the medium’s boundaries, the exhibit included important pieces from the 20th century studio movement, such as the life-sized, figural forms of Karen LaMonte, cast-glass abstractions of Richard Whiteley, and the expectation-shattering sculptures of Masahiro Asaka and Christina Bothwell.

“We needed a light source to make the glass come to life, bringing out the shapes, forms and colors. Soraa’s LED lamps illuminate glass beautifully,” said Isble. “At the Soraa facility, the company’s production team explained how their LEDs are made. It was clear to us that the Soraa team members are serious about perfect lighting.”

Utilizing every color in the rainbow, especially deep red emission, Soraa’s lamps render warm tones beautifully and accurately, and achieve a color rendering index (CRI) of 95 and deep red (R9) rendering of 95. Unlike blue-based white LEDs without any violet emission, the company’s lamps have violet emissions to properly excite fluorescing brightening agents in natural objects. Soraa’s GaN on GaNTM LED technology renders the widest range of colors in the objects that we see, without ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) radiation that can fade or harm the art and artifacts.

The Crocker Art Museum uses Litelab fixtures, and plans to replace all other lighting as it flickers or yellows throughout the facility with Soraa LED lamps. Soraa LED lamps have also been installed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Historical Museum of Bamberg in Germany.

For additional information, please visit www.soraa.com

[Soraa 0]

SORAA MODERNIZES LIGHTING AT ICONIC NICOLAS SURSOCK MUSEUM IN LEBANON
Perfectly lighting a renowned modern and contemporary art museum, Soraa’s LED lamps now illuminate the Nicolas Sursock Museum in Beirut, Lebanon. Built in 1912 by aristocrat Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock, the villa was given to the city of Beirut as an art museum upon his death. The Sursock Museum first opened its doors to the public in 1961 with a mission to collect, preserve and exhibit local and international art.

“Museums are living facilities that must constantly adapt to meet evolving needs. Soraa LED lamps definitely contribute to the Museum’s mission—and are better suited to meet the Museum’s needs of today and tomorrow,” said Majdi Hajjar, Lighting Designer and Illuminating Engineer with Aartill, in Baabda, Lebanon.

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When the project was originally specified in 2011, Aartill designers chose iGuzzini track-mounted fixtures but opted for halogen lamps, because LED luminaires available then were not acceptable in terms of reliability and light quality for the museum.

“At that time, we decided to specify fixtures for AR111 and MR16 halogen lamps as we were strongly confident that sooner or later high quality LED lamps would be available for retrofit. With Soraa’s lamps, we have been able to fulfill the lighting requirements for the Museum, allowing it to dramatically save on energy costs while protecting and perfectly illuminating the artifacts on display,” Hajjar continued.

By replacing hundreds of halogen lamps with Soraa LED lamps, the museum reduced its energy costs and dramatically extended the lamp lifespan while maintaining tight beam control and outstanding colour and whiteness rendering and consistency even when the lamps are dimmed.

Aartill worked with Beirut-based distributor Unilux Group. The teams opted for Soraa VIVID AR111 LED lamps to replace the halogen lamps in the iGuzzini Express spotlights. For the iGuzzini Express recessed directional downlights, Soraa VIVID MR16 LED lamps were used.

“We recommended Soraa LED lamps because of their excellent beam distribution and control. Soraa’s lamps have the narrowest available beam on the market deliving impeccable colour consistency and true to life colours,” said Joe Nacouzi, principal with Unilux Group.

Soraa’s true ANSI form factor MR16 LED lamps have outstanding peak intensity; flawless beam definition and edges; and exceptional colour (CRI of 95 and R9 of 95) and whiteness rendering. Additionally, Soraa's spot LED lamps are customisable with the company’s award-winning magnetic SNAP System™ accessories. With a simple magnetic accessory attachment, beam shapes can be altered and colour temperature can be modified, allowing endless design and display possibilities.

For additional information, please visit www.soraa.com

[Soraa 0]

SORAA'S PERFECT LIGHTING BRINGS SOPHISTICATION TO ELITE FITNESS CLUB
Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, announced that its LED lamps have been installed at the Gravity Club, a premium, invitation-only fitness club in the heart of Singapore’s central business district.

Gravity Club owners Fitness First, which is one of the largest fitness brands in the world and the largest in Southeast Asia, worked with Illuminate Lighting Design to create an atmosphere where lighting helps define the club’s sophisticated brand and style, and enhance the members’ experience.

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Designers at Illuminate Lighting Design chose Soraa’s LEDs for their colour temperature, high output, multiple beam options, and dimmability.

“Soraa’s LED lamps perfectly illuminate the Gravity Club. Lighting is at the heart of creating an environment that combines upscale exercise facilities with beautifully designed social and business spaces in a single premium location. The successful integration of lighting as part of Gravity Club’s holistic experience was the result of a fresh approach to lighting schemes that are rarely offered in a gym,” said Claire Riley of Illuminate Lighting Design.

Specifically, the club chose Soraa’s LED lamps for all its downlighting needs, as well as for spotlights throughout the space. In the social spaces of the Gravity Club, such as the lounge, there is a warmer colour temperature to create a calming ambiance for members to wind down. The colour temperature then gradually increases towards the work-out area to aid high-performance activities. In the changing rooms, the company’s LED lamps are positioned precisely at alternating locker lines to emphasis the linear interior design. Soraa’s unique GaN on GaN™ LED technology allows its LEDs to operate at currents that are more than five times higher than other LED lamps, resulting in a narrow beam that can be controlled to illuminate any area with a single crisp shadow.

Colours and whites in distinct spaces throughout the Gravity Club are perfect rendered by Soraa’s Violet-Emission 3-Phosphor (VP₃) LED technology. Utilising every colour in the rainbow, especially deep red emission, Soraa’s LED lamps render warm tones beautifully and accurately, and achieve a colour-rendering index (CRI) of 95 and deep red (R9) rendering of 95. And unlike blue-based white LEDs without any violet emission, the company’s lamps have violet emissions to properly excite fluorescing brightening agents, including paper and natural objects like human eyes and teeth.

For additional information, please visit www.soraa.com

[Soraa 0]

SORAA BRINGS HISTORY TO LIFE AT DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS
Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, announced that its full visible spectrum LED lamps were installed at the Arts of the Ancient Middle East Gallery at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) in Detroit, Michigan. Soraa’s LED lamps now illuminate historic artifacts dated from approximately 3000 BCE and 600 CE that map the rise of writing, trade, religions, cities, and empires in the early civilizations of the Middle East.

Lighting designer Marc Langlois, working with the museum’s curatorial and collections staff, conducted a detailed series of tests, calculations and small case studies on a variety of lamps and fixtures. The team opted for Soraa’s VIVID MR16 LED lamps to illuminate the ancient art and artifacts. The new LED lighting gives the space a more inviting, airy and contemporary feel that the DIA desired. The gallery’s beautiful architectural elements had been previously lost with the halogen lighting, but the new Soraa lighting improved the color rendering of the art and made the space itself an attraction for guests.

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“The color quality and consistency realized from the Soraa lamps proved to be the best fit for our installation,” said Terry Birkett, Director of Collections Management with the Detroit Institute of Arts. “Once the installation was completed, the response from the public and staff made it clear that Soraa’s lighting made the difference we had hoped for.”

Utilizing every color in the rainbow Soraa’s lamps render tones beautifully and accurately, and achieve a color rendering index (CRI) of 95 and deep red (R9) rendering of 95. Soraa’s GaN on GaNTM LED technology renders the widest range of colors in the objects that we see, without ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) radiation that can fade or harm the art and artifacts.

“The DIA was expanding its space and this gave us the opportunity to bring out the architectural elements and the artifacts through lighting design. The cooler color temperature really shows the beauty of the artifacts, many of which are stone and other organic materials,” said Langlois. “Soraa’s LED lamps give you the ability to appreciate the space more so than if it was still a warmer color temperature.”

Not only do the Soraa LED lamps provide excellent color rendering and protection for the artifacts in the gallery, but the lamps also provide a significant energy efficiency benefit to the DIA. It is estimated that the LED lamps will cut energy costs for the museum by more than 50 percent.

 

For additional information, please visit www.soraa.com

[Soraa 0]

SORAA BRINGS BEAUTIFUL AND EFFICIENT LIGHTING TO THE WORLD'S OLDEST PUBLIC MUSEUM
Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, is honored to now illuminate the show-cases at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England with its LED Optical Light Engines. The Ashmolean Museum has been a national treasure and U.K. institution for centuries. As the first public museum in the world, the Ashmolean Museum was opened in 1683, and displays art and artefacts from most of the world civilizations. The sight of the current building dates from 1845 and underwent a large renovation to introduce 39 new galleries in 2009.

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The last few years have seen a dramatic improvement in the efficiency and quality of LED light sources and the Museum decided that the technology had now advanced enough for them to replace their existing halogen powered light generators. In 2015, the Museum partnered with Absolute Action to find a solution to their lighting dilemma.

After vigorous testing and research, Absolute Action chose Soraa VIVID LED Optical Light Engines to incorporate within the new fibre optic projector which they used to illuminate the priceless art and artefacts at the Ashmolean Museum. Absolute Action selected Soraa’s light engines for their compatibility with the current fibre optic products system in the show-cases, energy efficiency and exceptional colour and whiteness rendering.

“Our quest to find high quality colour rendering and longevity led us right to Soraa,” said Emma Dawson-Tarr, Managing Director, Absolute Action. “With Soraa’s LED innovations, we have given the Ashmolean Museum more flexibility and control for the future.”

In addition to outstanding colour rendering and long life, a key reason Absolute Action decided upon Soraa was the large energy savings associated with the new LEDs. By utilising the new Soraa LED light engines versus the previous halogen lamps, the Museum is set to save nearly 75 percent in energy costs associated with lighting. Additionally – and almost as important – the ability to maintain the optimum temperature of the Soraa diode via the NTC reader control from the driver means the Museum can be assured of a long operational life.

“The Ashmolean Museum aims to display exhibits with the most accurate colour rendering and clarity possible. However, until recently, we found that this quality was only available with inefficient halogen lamps,” said Harry Phythian-Adams, Executive Officer at the Ashmolean Museum. “We required a more energy efficient solution to achieve our lighting goals in terms of both quality and energy efficiency.”

 

Soraa’s GaN on GaN™ LED with Violet-Emission 3-Phosphor (VP₃) LED technology renders the widest range of colours in the objects that we see, without ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) radiation that can fade or harm the artifacts. Utilising every colour in the rainbow, especially deep red emission, Soraa’s lamps render warm tones beautifully and accurately, and achieve a colour rendering index (CRI) of 95 and deep red (R9) rendering of 95. And unlike blue-based white LEDs without any violet emission, the company’s lamps have violet emissions to properly excite fluorescing brightening agents in natural objects.

“As Shuji Nakamura, co-founder of Soraa, is the pioneer of the blue LED, it is fitting that there is now a collaboration between Soraa and Absolute Action, who were pioneers of fibre optic lighting. Both, in their way, distinctive specialists on a mission, renowned for the very best in quality and innovation, and well-respected on the international stage,” said Dawson-Tarr, Absolute Action. “It also chimes absolutely with our ethos of offering genuine reliability and longevity in all our products and services”.

For additional information, please visit www.soraa.com

[Jamie A. 6]

Structuring information with ERCO light: "No Beer without the Alster Lake" in the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte
The venerable Hamburg Museum is celebrating brewing culture in northern Germany with a special exhibition. The organisers have succeeded in showing this cultural history topic in a concise, surprising and entertaining way – with a guidance system of striking graphics and pinpoint accent light from ERCO.

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the German Purity Law, the "No Beer without the Alster Lake" exhibition focuses on the culture of brewing specifically in northern Germany. The exhibition, displayed across a compact 620 m2, ranges from the beginnings of brewing in ancient Egypt to mediaeval times and today and displays around 400 diverse exhibits. Objects from North Germany are shown, for example an original brewing kettle from the 18th century, botanic depictions of hops and grain, sophisticated still lives from the 17th century, historic drinking vessels, advertising panels and beer mats from the 20th century as well as currently popular craft beer brands.

A guidance system with graphics and light
To master this level of contextual and formal diversity in this small space was a major challenge for the exhibition concept. Exhibition designers Volker von Baczko and Oliver Thomas, founders of the IIID brand communication design studio in Hamburg, created an attractive guidance system consisting of only two design elements for concisely structuring the content and guiding visitors through the show. Striking yellow lines mark the way across the floor and up the walls to the exhibition texts on the one hand. On the other, these "beer paths" serve to structure eleven roughly chronological themes concerning the brewing process and beer culture, for example "barrel and barrel makers", "pubs and beer halls" and "Hanseatic breweries". The second essential design element is rich-contrast accent lighting achieved with just a single luminaire range, compact Light Board spotlights from ERCO. Orientation is established in the space entirely without general lighting – only various light accents are used precisely, serving to guide visitors and hierarchically classify the exhibits.

Source: erco

[Jamie A. 6]

The Museu de Cultures del Món (Museum of World Cultures) in Barcelona presents outstanding works from around the world in medieval Catalan buildings. Architecture and art are set off perfectly thanks to the ERCO lighting tools Optec and Pollux
A death mask from Ghana, a Buddha statue from Burma, an incense holder from Guatemala. Selected non-European ritualistic and everyday objects are cherished as sought-after collector's items on the international art market. Compared to modern Western works though they are subject to other sets of rules. Because most objects are not signed they usually cannot be assigned to specific artists – their value is defined according to the collections that housed them. The Museu de Cultures del Món makes works from several renowned institutes such as the Folch Foundation and the Ethnological Museum Barcelona accessible to the interested public.

As often found in archaeological and ethnological museums, the Museu de Cultures del Món presents many of its exhibits in display cabinets. Here both general lighting of the room and accenting the objects with spotlights had to be ensured. Even though the cabinets are illuminated externally, no reflections from either the light or windows must occur on their panes. Due to reasons of conservation the temperatures in the cabinets must also remain constant.

ERCO LED lighting tools are the ideal solution thanks to their heat dissipation to the rear of the luminaire. The tops of high display cabinets can also be used for light guidance with the use of frosted panels. When the directed light of a spotlight penetrates the semi-transparent material, it creates diffuse ambient lighting with precision accents. This approach is used at the Museu de Cultures del Món, for example, to set off a collection of African masks with uniquely expressive illumination.

Source: erco

[Robert Lights ✌ 5]

An advantage for success at the Hong Kong Science Museum
Since its opening, the Hong Kong Science Museum has captivated the public’s curiosity through interactive and enlightening exhibitions. Housing over 500 exhibits in an area that spans over 65,000 square meters, the Museum recently opened a series of new exhibits designed to encourage a greater understanding of the world all around us. Wanting to implement an energy-efficient LED lighting system to accentuate the exhibits, the Museum called upon longtime partner Pacific Lighting Ltd who provided them with complete system of Altman Lighting Pegasus, Spectra Cyc 50 and ME4 luminaires.

“We have a long and successful history of working with the Hong Kong Science Museum designing and installing a number of their exhibition lighting systems,” began Hugh Chinnick, Pacific Lighting Director and Project Lighting Designer. “With the latest exhibition, they wanted to use LED technology when possible so the choice of fixtures had to be carefully managed. Although there was no detailed design brief, we knew they wanted the lighting design to create the appropriate theatrical atmosphere, so we chose to implement a system of Altman Lighting LED luminaires.”

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Available as a 6 or 8-inch white output LED Fresnel, the Altman Pegasus is both a Mains Dimmable and DMX controlled luminaire that replicates the soft light output that is expected from a Theatrical or Studio Fresnel. At under 150W, Pegasus meets the output of its 750 watt incandescent counterparts and is also available in four different color temperatures with a 10-70 degree spot-to-flood beam spread.

“When looking at our choices for the fixtures in the design, we had to keep in mind the physical size, light output, beam spread, fixture control, and of course cost,” continued Chinnick. “Since the Museum already has a flexible grid system with distributed dimming and DMX outlets, the challenge really became how to effectively amplify the theatrical environment once all the set pieces and exhibitions elements were in place.”

The Spectra Cyc 50 is a 50W RGBA or RGBW cyclorama wall wash designed for both theatrical and architectural applications. Blending colors via a patented LED lens that reduces direct-view pixilation, the on-board power supply allows for direct power and data inputs, and individual units can also be linked side-by-side for an even greater saturation of light. The Spectra Cyc is compatible with both DMX and RDM protocols, and comes complete with a library of pre-programmed single colors to match various color mixes.

“I really like the flexible beam control and seamless coverage with defined upper and lower beam cut-off of the Altman Spectra Cyc,” added Chinnick. “Plus, with the compact beam angle range of the Pegasus luminaire we had the ability to go from a spot to a very wide and flat beam field giving us tremendous flexibility in creating the ideal design. After some creative rigging and a little bending of artificial tree branches, we ended up with a wonderful new lighting design that included 15 Pegasus, five Spectra Cyc 50 and 20 ME4 luminaires from Altman Lighting.”

The ME4 ellipsoidal is a high efficiency LED framing projector with a 20-40 degree variable zoom focus. Utilizing a 30W LED source capable of achieving a 2700K, 3000K, 4000K or 5000K color temperature, the ME4 also features bright and crisp pattern or graphic projections. With four framing shutters for precise beam shaping the ME4 is perfect for museums, retail locations, restaurants and other venues requiring a small ellipsoidal framing projector.

“I really enjoy using the Altman Lighting luminaires in this type of application because they easily meet both the physical size and excellent performance criteria,” concluded Chinnick. “In the completed project, we now have Altman fixtures hanging all around the new exhibitions which include the Mangrove Forest, Forest Trail, Woodlands Diorama, Sunrise in the Savana Diorama, and the Sandy Beach Diorama. When the new exhibits opened, it was amazing to see the reaction of the visitors to the Hong Kong Museum and by choosing the LED lighting solutions from Altman Lighting we really achieved a distinct advantage for success.”

Source: altmanlighting