Color Kinetics Showcase Sun Microsystems Executive Briefing Center

The Sun Microsystems Executive Briefing Center provides a future forward space for hands on demonstrations and presentations, complete with state-of-the-art Color Kinetics intelligent LED lighting solutions.

Jody Pritchard of h.e. banks + associates was tasked to reduce ambient light in the Briefing Center’s main demonstration area, and provide her client with dimming control to focus attendees’ attention to the project at hand. She chose to replace the existing non-dimmable fluorescent strip lights with Color Kinetics LED lighting, which provided more control and created more drama. In choosing eW™ Cove fixtures, a completely dimmable, cost-effective linear solution for alcove applications, she created a subtle effect and gave the client complete control. Now, the client can dim the cove lighting to direct the attention to the demonstration at hand, unlike the previous fluorescent sources that were circuited through the building system, allowing for no control capabilities. This resulted in a waste of energy and increased maintenance costs because the lights were constantly on.

Within a two week time span, Pritchard with her team and a set of electrical contractors had to design, order and install the new cove lighting; and eW Cove fixture provided the perfect solution. The eW Cove units were installed simply by removing the fluorescent lamps and disconnecting the power, and installing the units directly on top of the fluorescent strip lights inside the coves. In order to incorporate dimming ballasts to the previous fluorescent strip lighting proved too costly and required too much installation time, and the new eW Cove fixture served as a simple “plug and play” and a cost effective solution.

Over 240 units of eW Cove were installed in the four floating ceiling areas, uplighting the gyp ceiling above and providing soft, ambient light in the space. The cool, 4200K color temperature gives off a “techy” vibe – coordinating with the existing office décor and supporting the space-age, forward thinking attitude as demonstrated with their products.

The eW Cove units are circuited to a Lutron Grafik Eye, and an RS232 interface enables the presenter to dim the lighting through the AMX touch screens. Now with the push of a button the presenter can control the demonstration as well as access the appropriate lighting scene to focus attention onto the product being displayed.

“By using eW Cove fixtures we were able to accomplish all of our goals for the project,” said Jody Pritchard, h.e. banks + associates. “The fixtures were supplied and installed within a tight schedule, and the reasonable price fit well within the client’s budget. As a designer, it is a rare moment when a concept can meet all of your requirements at the same time.”