The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) recently announced the winners of the 35th Annual International Lighting Design Awards, which recognized 17 diverse projects of exceptional quality.
Accepting the Radiance Award for Excellence in Lighting Design, the highest level award, were Stephanie Grosse-Brockhoff and Andreas Schulz, IALD, part of the project team from Licht Kunst Licht for the German Ivory Museum in Erbach, Germany.
This exhibit space houses a small but exquisite collection of ivory objects. The design creates a memorable contrast between exhibits and their surroundings, without distracting from the form of each piece on display. Each display showcase is a luminous cube, with all light sources inside the showcase having a focused light distribution and snoot, and all those outside the showcase remaining fully concealed due to clever positioning or careful accessories.
The cabinets consist of fully glazed hoods without any corner profiles where lighting devices and wiring might be hidden. To maintain the effect demanded by the design concept, designers introduced a small-profile tracing in the interior upper cabinet corner to accommodate all lighting elements, concealing cables and splices behind a blind cover. On-site testing revealed that silver anodized elements were less visible than black, so fittings and cables were adjusted and invisibly embedded into the glass miter joints.
Judges were impressed with this careful attention to detail, and one judge commented that this approach was ultimately in service of the user experience: “Controlling light spill and reflection unquestionably captures the focus of the visitor with the exhibit, rendering the envelope invisible.”
In tune with the red hue of the exhibition design, the light color of the display lighting is 3000K. The only deviance is at the base of the cases – the lower third of the glass panes is frosted and fitted with edge light integrated in the base. The diffusion transitions smoothly into clear glass. By virtue of the edge light, the frosting assumes a gentle brightness evocative of a fog. The LED ribbon is concealed in the display’s base and uses 5000K light, cooler than the object and walkway lighting. This supports the design concept, creating the impression of an icy haze from which the figurines miraculously emerge.
“Stunning,” said another judge. “A simple, yet elegant solution that reveals the textures and forms of the ivory figurines.”
Learn more about this and other winning projects here.
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