When Great Hills Partners, based in Boston, MA, was planning a new headquarters space overlooking the city, the design team at Gensler Boston knew they would need to provide an exclusive experience from the moment a client stepped out of the elevator. With two lobby spaces to fill, the design teams knew they would need something special and so they came to Fabbian to develop a completely custom solution for the spaces. The concept was to create a concealed and floating grid system composed of glass pendants.


DESIGN CHALLENGES

Even from the initial renderings, the concept clearly was massive in scale. Encompassing nearly 500 square feet of space, The Elevator Lobby, at 25’ long x 7’ wide required 175 pendants while the Office Lobby space, at 17’ x 17’ wide, required another 256 pendants, each of which had to be wired and cut to the exact same size to convey the effect needed. To additionally complicate matters, this system also had to meet the efficiency requirement for the state energy code. With 431 lights in a custom light fixture and a light every 1 square foot, this was no small feat to pass the watts per square foot limits needed.

Lastly, this system had to be unique. The glass had to be something different and yet also match the design and branding of the organization. Fortunately, the challenges fall well within the scope of what Fabbian has delivered on for nearly 60 years. The Fabbian team provided numerous glass and pendant samples in numerous shapes for contemplation. One shape seemed to be the right style, but too small, so custom blown glass elements were made.

Available Light - Boston partnered on the project to provide a review of the light sources being used, calculate the delivered illumination levels, and ensured compliance with the energy requirements for the overall project needs.


TRANSLATING DESIGN TO REALITY

It’s one thing to create something unique in concept, but to convert the concept to the final implementation means that the system needs to be installable. With such a massive canopy, the Fabbian technical team created a mounting system that could easily be set and leveled using all-thread and screw-points interconnecting each section of canopy. By painting the entire system matte black, the entire canopy would disappear from view once installed.

Fabbian also wanted to make sure all the wiring and power was also easy to implement. By using 2W LED sources for the lighting, the entire system is powered at less than 1000 Watts at full brightness and uses only 52 dimming drivers.


THE FINAL RESULTS

In the end, beautiful design, collaborative efforts, professional installers, and the expertise of all parties speak for themselves.



Owner: Great Hill Partners

Architecture & Design: Gensler Boston

Lighting Design: Available Light

General Contractor: Columbia Construction

Electrical Contractor: J.&M. Brown Company

Photographs: Richard Mandelkorn Photography

Local Fabbian Representative: Reflex Lighting