LightingServicesInc.com Blog

LED Usage in Museums and Art Galleries

Fundamental issues: suitability of LEDs for museum lighting in terms of color discrimination and impairment of light sensitive materials

LED sources have previously been evaluated for their suitability in museum lighting by Mie ISHII et al in 2007¹. Tests for effect on color degradation of different natural dyes and different blue scale standards (the index of light color fastness for dyed fabrics) were carried out with different LED technologies and an accumulated exposure time of 150000lx.hr (a CIE standard for light fugitive materials of medium responsivity³ ). The main findings were that particularly single phosphor LEDs of a high CCT (over 4000K), especially if there are abrupt peaks in the spectrum around 400 – 500nm, have a greater effect on the fading of yellow dyes or blue scale grade 1 and 2 standards than that of museum fluorescent lamps (NU).

Another issue highlighted by Kronkright¹ involves the effect of a non-continuous spectrum on an accurate perception of a work of art.

The above observations and cautions were relevant with the phosphor corrected LEDs of the time. Advances in the light quality of LEDs and LED modules, particularly LED modules with a separated and tuned phosphor, not only overcome these shortcomings but present a solution on a par with halogen lamps. Specification points to be certain of in this respect include: 

• Limited output between 400-500nm. From the color perspective, the blue portion of the spectrum (which is abundant in sun, moon and starlight) is needed for the proper functioning of human eye, so there should be some light in these wavelengths, but certainly no higher than halogen.  
• In general a SPD that follows as closely as possible the Black Body Locus ( BBL) with gradual changes and not spikes   

In figures 1 to 3 the Artist Series module from Xicato, which uses their patent pending “Corrected Cold Phosphor Technology”, is compared with traditional light sources in terms of CRI and halogen and standard phosphor corrected LEDs in terms of a SPD analysis, to demonstrate how the above weaknesses are solved. Figure 4 shows an application demonstration of the Artist Series module alongside tungsten halogen.  

  

 Figure 1

 Xicato’s Artist Series module Color Rendering properties compared with traditional lamp types. Test Color Samples 1 to 15 are detailed, from CIE 13.3-1995. Measurements by University College London 

Notes:

• High rendering properties across the visible spectrum allows fine color discernment of museum or gallery exhibits, bettering typical compact metal halide or compact fluorescent sources and on a par with halogen sources

  Figure 2

Comparison of SPD for Xicato’s Artist Series module (3000K) with halogen and Cool White pc LED. Outputs normalised to 700lm – the output of the Xicato’s Artist Series module at 700mA operation 

Notes:

• Below 400nm
  • Halogen has nearly 4 times more light than Xicato Artist module
• In 400-450nm region
  • Xicato’s Artist Series module has less light than Halogen (87mW compared to 110mW)
  • Cool white pc LED has twice the amount of light of Halogen (236mW)
• Change in intensity from the adjacent spectral band is
  • Gradual with the Halogen lamp
  • Abrupt with the Cool White pc LED
  • Gradual change close to Halogen lamp with the Xicato’s Artist Series module

 

Figure 3

Comparison of SPD for Xicato’s Artist Series module (3000K) with halogen and Warm White pc LED. Outputs normalised to 700lm – the output of the Xicato’s Artist Series module at 700mA operation 

Notes:

• Below 400nm
  • Halogen has nearly 4 times more light than Xicato Artist Series module
• In 400-450nm region
  • Xicato’s Artist Series module has less light than Halogen (87mW compared to 110mW)
  • Warm white pc LED has less light than Halogen but more than Xicato’s Artist Series module (91mW)
• Change in intensity from the adjacent spectral band is
  • Gradual with the Halogen lamp
  • Abrupt with the Warm White pc LED
  • Gradual change close to Halogen lamp with the Xicato’s Artist Series module 

 

Figure 4

An application demonstration of Xicato’s Artist Series module alongside tungsten halogen (thanks to Mike Stoane Lighting)

 

LED usage for museum and gallery lighting: the wider picture

Having dealt with the above fundamentals, there are a number of other reasons why LED solutions such as the Xicato’s Artist Series module are ideal for museum and gallery lighting. 

 Figure 5

The Kruithof curve 

• Stability of color point through life is essential for maintenance of a design. With Xicato’s Artist Series module this will not deviate beyond 2 Standard Deviation Colour Matching ellipses (SDCM) of the original color point. (When traditional lamp replacements are made, even with halogen if it involves a different manufacturer, there can be marked differences in color appearance).  
• As accent lighting is normally track mounted in this segment, miniaturisation can contribute towards overall aesthetics. Often the architecture itself is grand or dramatic and the less obstruction from building services hardware the better.  
• As with halogen lamps different beam angles are possible. Beam control for the Xicato Spot modules can be achieved by changing the reflectors, something which can be done on site. As the source is a uniform lambertian emitter it is possible to achieve a smooth beam with a sharp cut-off angle. Reflectors with 10,20,40 and 60 degree beam angles are commonly available. Because of the module’s light emitting area, achieving very narrow beam distributions has an implication on reflector size. Figure 6 shows the relation between the beam angle defined by its Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) and the approximate diameter of the reflector for the Xicato module. Efficiency of any reflector is normally associated with size; the larger the reflector the more light can be collected and delivered to the beam. However larger sizes will create problems associated with reflection losses in the coating (the reflection factor of the commonly used aluminium or silver in the visible region is a maximum of 92%, and losses caused by this multiply with each beam reflection).

 Figure 6

The relationship between beam angle and reflector diameter for a Xicato Spot module (with a 22mm diameter aperture) 

Until now halogen lamps have been used predominantly in this segment. Xicato’s Artist Series module provides an energy saving, long life alternative with no light quality compromises. 

Figures 7 to 9 show a number of recent museum and gallery installations using Xicato’s Artist Series modules. 

 Figure 7

The Sunderland Museum and Winter Garden.
Notes:

• Over 380 “Quartet” Uno track spots and “Quartet” RG recessed gimbal downlights from High Technology Lighting are installed, replacing the previously used AR111 and MR16 halogen.  

 

Figure 8

Brooker Gallery at the Chicago Field Museum  

Notes:

Here Lighting Services Inc’s LumeLEX™ 2040 luminaires using Xicato’s Artist Series modules are installed. 26 LumeLEX™ luminaires replaced 32 Halogen PAR38 lamps and reduced the wattage from 900W to 400W -a 500W energy savings. In addition, the luminaires were dimmed approximately 40% to achieve the same light levels required for the space by the museum.

 

 Figure 9

San Francisco MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art).  

Notes:

• Lighting Services Inc. replaced 25 Halogen PAR38 lamps with 17 LumeLEX™ 2040 luminaires using the 2700K Artist Series module in the The Djerassi Gallery. The energy savings amounted to 61%. 2700K Artist Series modules were used, creating a “human” environment according to their head curator for photography.

 

References

1. Open letter from Mr Dale Kronkright, Head of Conservation at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum to the Green Task Force of the American Institute for Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works, 30^th March 2010 (http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/2010/0361.html) 
2. “Colour Degradation of Textiles with Natural Dyes and of Blue Scale Standards Exposed to White LED Lamps: Evaluation of White LED Lamps for Effectiveness as Museum Lighting” by Mie ISHII et al, J. Light & Vis. Env. Vol 32, No 4, 2008 
3. CIE: Control of damage to museum objects by optical radiation (CIE 157:2004), CIE, (2004) – from which:

* No conservation limit but there may be adaptation, visibility or heat effects if high light levels are used on irresponsive items.

Acknowledgements

To Kevan Shaw of KSLD, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinrich Kramer, FPLDA of LICHTDESIGN-Ingenieurges.m.b.H. and Dale Kronkright of The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Research Centre for pre-publication reviews of this paper.

Afterword 1

Dale Kronkright, Head of Conservation at The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Research Centre

Having reviewed this article and seen Xicato’s Artist Series module I agree that in this instance the problems I highlighted in my letter (reference 1 above) have been well addressed. I would go so far as to say that this remarkable LED module holds a bright beacon of hope for the future of SS lighting. I must however lay down a warning that from my experience it is far from being the norm in the LED lighting field and vigilance in specification is called for to avoid great potential harm to light sensitive materials. Xicato’s Artist Series module does lead the way in our industry and I hope others will follow and museum and gallery lighting can enjoy the energy and maintenance savings of LEDs with no drop in viewing standards or worries about exhibit damage.

Afterword 2

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinrich Kramer, FPLDA, LICHTDESIGN-Ingenieurges.m.b.H.

My office having completed over 30 museums in different countries, I am very much convinced by the Xicato Artist Series module. 

Three points on the article:

1. There is much less belief nowadays in the Kruithof curve. The preferences for the Color Temperature of artificial light are influenced by our experience with daylight and artificial light sources. Thus museum directors all over the world prefer in art galleries with paintings of the old Dutch masters the PAR 38 lamp (Color Temperature of 2500K), because they know these paintings are painted under gas or candle light. So maybe Xicato should also develop a LED with a lower Color Temperature.                                                                              
2. The deep red parts of the spectrum effect also dark browns (you can see it also in the CRI of the Color sheet R9). Maybe you can add a bit more long wave red. The overall CRI is fantastic, but this is what museum directors require.
3. There is a trend away from scallops over exposed paintings and towards usage of projectors or wallwashers.

Latest Technology Makes Museums Ready for LEDs

The latest technology in LEDs provides Museums the opportunity to get comparable good color rendition, and art conservation as an incandescent source, and contribute to the global efforts of sustainable lighting.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) experimented with newly installed LED lighting fixtures in the Djerassi Gallery. 

The existing Djerassi Gallery at SFMOMA (picture on left) was being lit with a quantity of 25 fixtures using 45 watt Halogen PAR38 lamps with 45 x 50 degree spread lenses achieving a fc level between 7 and 9 fc for conservation purposes.

The same Djerassi Gallery at SFMOMA (picture on right) was re-lit using a quantity of 17 LSI LumeLEX 2040 Series LED Fixtures utilizing Xicato technology 2700K 95+ CRI, a 40 degree reflector with a linear diffusion gel and a 30% neutral density gel.

RESULTS:
25 fixtures were replaced with 17. The light levels and uniformity were virtually identical at between 7 and 9 fc. 1125 watts of incandescent light were replaced with 442 watts of LED light. That's a 61% savings on direct energy alone. In addition, there is roughly a 1W reduction in HVAC load for every 3 watts of reduction in lighting load, so the reduction of 683 watts in that gallery alone would also contribute to an additional 227 watt reduction on HVAC.

For further information on Lighting Services Inc's LumeLEX, please click here.

 

Exhibit Lighting of the Greatest Treasures of Humankind

Exhibit Design and Art Direction: James Kelly
Exhibit Installation Coordination and Lighting Design: Emilio Bras

After years of international negotiations, the Milwaukee Public Museum has opened its exhibit of the "Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures", the largest temporary exhibit ever produced by the museum.  With over 200 objects from multiple international and national lenders, "Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible" takes you in a journey through the Holy Land during the period the scrolls were written, to their discovery in the 1940's, and the transmission of these early scriptures to the books that today shaped the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 1940s through mid-1950s has been called the biblical archaeological equivalent of unearthing King Tut's tomb.  The scrolls were discovered in a cave along the western shore of the Dead Sea by a Bedouin shepherd chasing his goats. He tossed some stones into a cave, heard pottery breaking and went into the cave to investigate, finding scrolls encased in jars. That began an investigation of the scrolls that continues to this day.

"These are the greatest treasures of humankind," said Milwaukee Public Museum president Dan Finley. "You can't put a value on these words. These words changed the world."

Located in the Steigleder Special Exhibit Gallery of the Milwaukee Public Museum, the 16,050 square foot exhibit includes:

• A fragment of the Copper Scroll, a one-of-a-kind scroll written on deteriorating metal that took scholars more than four years to cut open and translate.
• A fragment of a version of the book of Daniel dating from between 50 B.C. and A.D. 50. This is its first display in any exhibit of Dead Sea Scrolls.
• A fragment from Ecclesiastes dating from the second century B.C. 

Emilio Bras, Milwaukee Public Museum Lighting Designer and Exhibit Installation Coordinator, used a LSI track grid of individual 12', 2 circuit squares, for a total 88 individual dimmable circuits.

"This layout allows us to reach any desirable lighting angle and control regardless of the physical layout of the temporary exhibits." noted Bras.  "I used line voltage series fixtures such as the 280 Series and the 290 Series.  From the low voltage series, I used the 36 Series as well as the BP75 Image Projector. A number of accessories were also used throughout to achieve a desired look or control like louvers, color filters and linear spread lenses."

The exhibit will be at the Milwaukee Public Museum for a limited time.  For information on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible exhibit, please click here.

Lighting Services Inc was very proud to be part of this exhibit. To view more images, please click here.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the first of its kind to honor a 19^th-century president, is a 200,000 square foot complex covering a two square block area in downtown Springfield, Illinois.  The Library and Museum complex consists of three primary areas; The Presidential Center Gateway at Union Station, The Presidential Museum and The Presidential Library. 

The Presidential Center Gateway at Union Station is a century-old railroad station in downtown Springfield that was adapted as the tourist friendly "gateway" to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum as well as to other local Lincoln attractions.

The Museum is a state-of-the-art facility that has many Lincoln items on permanent display, in a way that is designed to be a personal, experiential reality, for the very first time. The permanent exhibit galleries depict Abraham Lincoln's beginnings from Kentucky to an Indiana cabin to his end at Ford's Theater.  Visitors can also view a reproduction of the House Chamber in the Old State Capitol and view Lincoln's flag-draped casket.  The Museum also houses a 250-seat multi-stage and screen presentation and a holographic theater, which brings Lincoln documents and artifacts to life. 

The Library is the world's premier center for Lincoln research and an important addition to the culture of every American. Documents to be displayed include the 13^th Amendment; Lincoln's handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

The lighting specifications for this project required fixtures that would provide conservation to the museum artifacts; maintain a clean and visually quiet appearance; and provide a flexible lighting system that would be easy to use and maintain.  

Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Inc. (HOK) served as the primary architect and exhibit designer on this project as well as providing lighting specifications.  HOK is one of the world's most prominent and influential design firms and a global provider of design and project delivery services with 1,600 professionals linked across a network of offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. 

BRC Imagination Arts, also an exhibit designer on this project, has built a reputation as one of the most creative experience design companies in the world, and is re-inventing the way museums and other destinations educate, entertain and inspire visitors of all ages. 

Yeager Design, LLC, contracted for exhibit lighting on the project, is a fully integrated lighting design firm offering consulting, design support, and installation supervision to clients in the entertainment, architectural and themed attraction business.

Lighting Services Inc was very proud to be part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. To view the lighting fixtures installed, please click here.

 

Walt Disney Family Museum Opens in San Francisco

The fascinating and inspiring story of Walt Disney came to life on Oct 1, 2009, when The Walt Disney Family Museum opened in San Francisco.

The 77,000 square-foot Walt Disney Family Museum is located in three buildings on the site of a former barrack in San Francisco's Presidio, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The first building houses the permanent collection, a 114-seat screening facility, learning center, museum store and cafe. The second building houses the Family Museum and Foundation offices, and, in 2012, will begin housing temporary exhibitions. The museum's third building, a former storage facility, is used for equipment storage. The permanent collection is arranged into 10 distinct galleries that chronicle Walt Disney's life and career.

Owned and operated by Walt Disney Family Foundation, the stated mission of the museum is to present "the life and achievements of the man who raised animation to an art, transformed the film industry, tirelessly pursued innovation, and created a global and distinctively American legacy."

"The name ‘Disney' calls to mind the vast company that bears my father's name, rather than my father himself," said Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt Disney and a director of the foundation that is funding the $110 million museum.  "My father was a man of endless curiosity who loved to tinker and explore and entertain people.  We look forward to sharing an honest and affectionate portrait of this amazing man."

The Walt Disney Family Museum contains hundreds of audio clips of Disney and his family and coworkers telling the stories of his creations, as well as over 1,600 objects and works of art, 200 monitors, and interactive exhibits that will invite visitors to learn about Walt Disney and the industry he nurtured.

Highlights of the Disney Family Museum include:

• The earliest known drawings of Mickey Mouse
• Animation cels of Disney's characters
• Storyboards, a Disney innovation, that map out timeless film classics
• The innovative Multiplane Camera that revolutionized animation
• The unique Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Academy Award: one full-size Oscar and seven miniature castings
• A model of the Disneyland of Walt's imagination
• The one-eighth scale train he installed at his Hollywood home that spurred his vision for Disneyland

Architect: Page and Turnbull, San Francisco, CA

Exhibit Lighting Design:  Fisher Marantz Stone, New York, NY

Interior Designer/Exhibition Design: Rockwell Group, New York

Lighting Services Inc is proud to be part of the Walt Disney Family Museum.  Please click here to view fixtures installed in this museum.

Chicago Field Museum Re-Lights the Brooker Gallery with LED fixtures

A celebration was held October 14, 2009 for the re-lighting of the Brooker Gallery at the Chicago Field Museum featuring with usable white light LED fixtures.  The reception was attended by industry professionals including Architects, Engineers, Lighting Designers, Government Officials and the Press.   

The gallery displayed entries to the Burnham Memorial Design Competition which proposed a public memorial to famed Architect Daniel H. Burnham and the Plan of Chicago.

All of the circuits in the Brooker Gallery are on dimmers, to easily control the light to conservation levels.  The show was originally lit with (32) Halogen PAR38 Lamps when dimmed consumed 900 watts.  They were replaced with (26) white light LED fixtures, set to the same light levels, which consumed 400 watts, for a 500 watt energy savings.

High quality, high output, consistent white light LED luminaires are becoming more and more accepted for the most demanding applications of museum and retail accent lighting.  With its long 50,000 hour life, LED lighting reduces energy and maintenance costs, while producing 1000 lumens, equivalent to a 60 watt halogen lamp.

Please click here to find out more information on the LED fixture installed in the Brooker Gallery at the Field Museum

 

 

Museum Lighting Renovations

In the past, when a building was looking past its best, architects and planners might have preferred to pull it down and start again. But increasingly, they are looking at these buildings with a fresh eye and realizing that, if done with vision and careful lighting, they can be brought into the 21^st century and made to look stunning once again.

Three museums have been involved with such renovations, including the Kahn Building at Yale University Art Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum and the National Museum of Singapore.

The 1953 Louis Kahn building at Yale University Art Gallery has been restored not only to its original beauty and grandeur, but also to its original function as a place for the display and study of works of art. Entering the building, visitors are now struck by the remarkable qualities of light, materials and space, all of which reflect Kahn's original vision.

The three year renovation by architect Polshek Partnership included the updating of the original lighting system, which had been designed by pioneering lighting designer Richard Kelly and was arguably the first use of track lighting in a museum context. That original system followed the flexibility of the architecture and lighting designers Fisher Marantz Stone (FMS)were tasked with formulating a master plan for the renovation. The primary issue was one of access, as the original electric busways had been sandwiched between the poured-in-place concrete floor/ceiling slabs. To update the track, FMS had to thread segmented flexible track through the ceiling in 32 inch sections. The new system, a standard modified track realized the original concept of providing architectural integration while providing maximum flexibility for the exhibit design lighting, which was carried out by Hefferan Partnership Inc.

In Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum, which originally opened its doors in 1914, gained 175,000 square feet with the addition of the aluminum-and-glass-covered Michael Lee-Chin Crystal which houses seven galleries overlooking Bloor Street West as well as a graceful new main entrance and two soaring interior spaces - Hyacinth Gloria Chen Crystal Court and the Spirit House. An extraordinary structure of interlocking prismatic forms, the Crystal, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Bregman + Hamann Architects, simultaneously restores one of Canada's historic landmarks while creating a new signature building for the city of Toronto.

Designing the lighting for the Crystal was challenging, as Joe Berardi of Mulvey + Banani International Inc of Toronto, explains: "The biggest challenge was the fact that there are very few vertical or horizontal walls in the Crystal and we needed to establish a system that would not only satisfy the needs of, and provide adequate lighting for the initial display, but also to respond to the changing needs for the future. The lighting system needed to be flexible and, at the same time, invisible." The track system proved to be ideal, with various versions of recessed track being used, depending on which type of track responded best to the architectural detailing. Various lighting fixtures, both metal halide and 12-volt PAR36 and AR111 lamps, were specified. The design of these cylinder fixtures make them ideal for architectural lighting, the 12-volt models particularly producing brilliant shafts of light, from narrow to wide beams, ideal for lighting small objects, accenting details on larger objects and creating low-level flood lighting.

Further afield, the National Museum of Singapore has undergone a major renovation in recent years. Originally built as the Raffles library and museum in 1887, this iconic neo-classical building is also now seamlessly integrated with a modernist extension of glass and metal. The lighting for the permanent exhibits in both the old and new galleries has been designed by François Roupinian, the founder and principal of Lightemotion in Montreal, working with exhibit designers GSM Design.

The two main exhibits are Singapore Living Galleries, a group of exhibits in the old part of the museum which cover food, fashion, film and photography, and the Singapore History Gallery, which tells the story of Singapore from its beginnings in the 14^th century to the modern period.

François used a theatrical approach to his lighting for the museum, ensuring that "all the exhibits talk the same language. However, the main challenge of the project was that, in the new building,  the exhibit design was evolving at the same as the architectural design. This necessitated us working closely with the engineers and, with their help, we developed a system which enabled us to integrate the lighting into the architecture. I like to hide the lighting fixtures, particularly in multi-media exhibits such as these."

To view the lighting fixtures used in these installations, please click the links below:

Yale University Art Gallery,  Royal Ontario Museum, National Museum of Singapore.

 

The National Museum of the American Indian - Museum Exhibit Lighting

The National Museum of the American Indian is a five-story, 250,000 sq ft. curvilinear building that was built on the last open space available on Washington's National Mall, between the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and the U.S. Capitol.

Dedicated to the Native peoples of North, South and Central America, the Museum was chartered by Congress in 1989 as the 16^th museum of the Smithsonian Institution and has one of the largest and most extensive collections of Native American art and artifacts in the world: approximately 800,000 objects representing over 10,000 years of history.

A striking addition to the National Mall, the building is clad in Kasota limestone and evokes natural rock formations shaped by wind and water over thousands of years. Set in a 4.25-acre landscaped site with wetlands and 40 boulders known as "grandfather rocks," the museum is a sharp contrast to neighboring Washington buildings. Its special features-an entrance facing east toward the rising sun, a prism window and a 120-foot-high atrium called the Potomac-were designed in consultation with Native Americans over a four-year period.

The architects had a strong sense of space, which was refined throughout the project, and it was essential that the lighting for the many spaces of the museum was in harmony with this. One of the most experienced lighting designers for museum spaces, Brandston Partnership Inc (BPI), was asked to design and specify the lighting for temporary exhibits, study cases and the public spaces which will host many special events.

Chou Lien, a partner at BPI, said: "Our aim was to create a sense of place in all of its details - to fulfill the vision of the architect's sense of the space. The functional requirements of the lighting were very few. However, the exhibit lighting is oriented towards a learning experience, and had to be sensitive to the technical requirements for preserving materials as well as balancing brightness for good visibility for visitors."

He continued: "However, we believe that maintenance issues are an equally important part of the design because otherwise, over time, the integrity of the lighting is compromised. For this reason, we utilized long-life halogen sources that are on a dimmer to extend lamp life, and located to be easily accessible from catwalks integrated into the architectural shell." The halogen sources also have excellent color rendering qualities, enabling visitors to the Museum to see the various exhibits in their true colors, while providing lamp life of up to 6,000 hours.

Conservation was an important factor in the choice of lighting fixtures, with some of the artifacts limited to 3-5 footcandle illuminance, and many different solutions were employed, including the architectural solution of using storage drawers, so that the artifacts are only exposed to light when the drawers are open.

For the many open spaces in the museum, where events will be held on a regular basis, the lighting design had to resolve some unique lighting conditions. This applied particularly to the Potomac space, where full theatrical lighting capability and an architectural lighting system are integrated via a control system, to provide the ability to alter the mood of the space as appropriate for many different functions.

Flexibility was also important for certain areas and all the lighting fixtures, whether spotlights, wall wash or projectors, are track-mounted, to enable different configurations of the fixtures, depending on the exhibits or event. Track lighting also enables BPI to have complete flexibility over their choice of light sources for the exhibits. With literally thousands of masterworks in its care, the exhibits at the Museum can range from intricate wood and stone carvings to feather bonnets, elegantly painted and quilled hides to basketry, weavings and much, much more. Such variety presents its own challenges, and track lighting enabled BPI to concentrate on the design of the lighting without having to worry about the more technical aspects of the fixtures.

Please click here to view the lighting fixtures installed in the National Museum of the American Indian.

Waxing Lyrical at Madame Tussauds - Museum Exhibit Lighting

One of the newest tourist attractions in Washington DC, Madame Tussauds provides visitors with a full sensory experience: they can see, touch and hear major historical events and celebrities in a way unlike any other. Within the 27,000 sq ft space, visitors to the Spirit of Washington DC can travel through history, from the Founding Fathers to modern politics, rubbing shoulders with the people that shaped America. Experiencing history through the eyes and ears of the politicians and icons that lived it, they can stand next to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, listening in on phone calls as they strategize during World War II; learn about Watergate by researching actual press coverage and background information with Bob Woodward at his desk; and sweat it out in an interrogation as J. Edgar Hoover glares at them as he searches for communism in America. 

Lighting this premier wax attraction required detailed planning and forethought, so when the attraction was being organized, the owners approached UK lighting designer David Hurst of Full-On Lighting.  A long-time designer to Madame Tussauds, David understands the particular requirements of lighting wax figures, as he explains: "Tussauds is neither a museum nor a theater, but the lighting approach is definitely theatrical - there is a show element to it. There is no restriction in terms of lux levels as there would be in a museum, only in the placing of the fixtures, both in relation to heat output and the actual lighting of the figures themselves. It's important to find a balance between close lighting and over-heating, as the wax figures could be at risk of softening and distorting."

At Washington one of David's main challenges was the ceiling height. All the fixtures are track mounted, with the height of the track - just 8 Ft- 8 Inches - governed by the ducting for the air conditioning. This meant that all the fixtures would be in full view of visitors, so David was concerned with the look of the fixtures as well as functionality.

The Washington DC attraction is open 365 days a year, from 10am to 6pm and, being located in the business district of the city, is also a popular venue for corporate events. Lamp life is therefore an issue, and so using the AR-111 lamps, which have an average life of 3-4,000 hours, made perfect sense.

As well as the wash and spotlights for the figures and the graphics, Tussauds makes use of quite a lot of effects: patterns through image projectors provide the slatted blinds on the floor of the FBI room for example, while break up patterns give depth to the graphics and American flag projections provide the back-drop for several political figures. The finished exhibit lighting uses dichroic glass, but David did the focusing using colored gels. This technique allowed him to fine-tune the color selection quickly, prior to ordering the exact colors that give the exhibits their character.

Madame Tussauds Washington D.C. is a "must do" attraction that provides guests with unique opportunities to create memories with some of the country's most historic icons and its success is adding countless thousands to the 500 million people worldwide who have already visited a Madame Tussauds.

Please click here to view the lighting fixtures used in Madame Tussauds DC