609 Main at Texas is a 48-story, next generation office tower at the corner of Main and Texas streets in downtown Houston. The new construction required a holistic lighting scheme that would be tailored to the building's unique geometry and modern facilities. Lighting design firm Illume was called upon to design a computer-controlled illumination scheme that solidifies 609 Main's presence within the nightscape of Houston.

The exterior lighting scheme of 609 Main at Texas is elegant, yet bold, drawing the eye up towards the sky and dynamically transforming days to nights. During the day, the building is highly reflective and mirrors the sky and exterior light. During the night, architectural elements are revealed and the interior of the building glows. In the main lobby, Lumenfacade Interior luminaires were mounted on each major fin of the wood trellis that makes up the atrium structure. The tight distribution (10° x 60° optic) with louvre grazes up the minor slats, highlighting the unique shape and form of this 95-foot high focal piece. 

Lumencove Nano luminaires were also used in the interior architectural coves, where the ceiling joins the main building core, to create a stunning floating ceiling. The Lumencove Nano 2.0, with its seamless lighting uniformity, allowed for a smooth, continuous illumination of the coves, with the added flexibility of illuminating corners.  The high output of the luminaires, compared to their small size, was ideal for this job because of the large scale architectural features and the need to keep the luminaires out of view.

Lumenbeam Large RGBW luminaires were mounted at every major horizontal pillar of the crown structure in the atrium and aimed towards the back wall. This allowed for the majority of the light to highlight the underside of the unique architectural structural members, but also to have enough light spilling on the back wall, creating a glowing light box. The colour changing of the crown luminaires can be programmed to celebrate sports teams and observed holidays, or set to white light for day to day operations.

Lumenline luminaires were integrated into a custom shroud that covers the sloped structural steel and illuminates the perimeter of the metal back panel which is visible from the exterior. 

Lumencove Exterior luminaires were mounted to a decorative metal brow that frames the mechanical louvre façade of the parking garage podium. The wide beam and adjustable mounting brackets allow the luminaires to wash the solid metal panel at the perimeter, and create a uniform, linear banding around the parking garage.

Two rows of Lumencove 2.0 were used to evenly illuminate the light box curtain wall detail of the massive vertical, architectural slot. This slot extends more than 650 feet up the east and west sides of the building, creating a beacon visible across the entire city. 

To achieve uniform lighting on the 650-foot vertical slot with no shadows or hot spots, Lumencove 2.0 luminaires were mounted vertically on both sides of the custom panel and aimed at the matte white back wall. This created a light box that then radiates out of the translucent front glass.

The linear vertical slots and garage brow ground the building and connect the colour changing crown with the other monumental lighting features. 

The wide variety of products offered from Lumenpulse also allowed to standardise and minimise manufacturers for the building as a whole, making maintenance for the end user easier.

*The property was pre-registered LEED, and is expected to attain Platinum certification.

EQUIPMENT SPECIFIED
2600 x Lumencove 2.0 [vertical slot up 2 sides of building] 
194 x Lumenline [SW sloped glass wall] 
592 x Lumencove Nano [Lobby coves, fitness centre coves] 
38 x Lumenfacade Interior [wood atrium wall] 
138 x Lumencove Exterior [brow detail] 
76 x Lumenbeam Large RGBW [crown] 



Client: Hines

Lighting Design: Illume / ME Engineers

Engineer: Illume / ME Engineers

Architect: Pickard Chilton Architects and Kendall Heaton Associates

Photographer: Ryan Linton