Jewel on the Bay Shining Brighter than Ever


Acclaim Lighting fixtures are highlighting the beautiful historic Beaux-Arts/Spanish Revival-style San Diego County Administration Building. Completed in 1938, the building is nicknamed the “Jewel on the Bay” because of its notable architecture and its scenic location fronting San Diego Bay.

The country selected OCS Lighting & Control to work with Dynalectric, the electrical contractor responsible for providing system design and manage the implementation of the lighting scheme. OCS is recognized for its unparalleled support and high quality lighting product offering that meet the requirements of virtually any project, regardless of scope, size, value, budget, type, and requirements, while heeding to the local, state, and federal regulations and the specific terms and conditions of its customers.

The lighting team and county officials determined from day-one that several attributes including strong light output, good color quality, ease of control, fixture build quality, and a clean aesthetic were all critical factors in determining which fixtures would be selected for the lighting the building.  Officials wanted to update existing high-wattage, HID floods uplighting the building’s unique architectural details with technology from the 21st century. They looked to replace the existing 400-watt metal halide narrow floodlights with RGBW LED lights to gain several benefits including much greater energy efficiency, reduced maintenance, and quick and easy color changes accomplished through programming rather than a crew physically applying color filters for special events and seasonal themes. Moreover, the county wanted the ability to easily coordinate the lighting shows running on the building with a nearby garage, which are in the line of sight for each other, so that the two would always be unified in schemes and color themes. Acclaim Lighting Solution After thoroughly comparing various solutions with guidance from OCS and Dynalectric, the County selected lighting products from Los Angeles-based Acclaim Lighting. Acclaim’s solution not only met but exceeded the technical requirements set forth within available budget parameters. In order for the fixtures to withstand the harsh coastal environment of San Diego Bay, IP66-rated fixtures were selected.  For the County Administration Building, OCS specified 120 volt Dyna Drum RGBW HO, Dyna Drum RGBW, 4’ Dyna Graze RGBW HO and Dyna Flood HO. Dyna Drum RGBW and RGBW HO are quad-color architectural lighting fixtures feature an adjustable yoke and an onboard 180-degree flip inverted digital control display for menu selections and addressing. The fixtures consume a maximum of 270 watts but typically consume much less than half the power of the 400 watt units they replace when running most of the shows programmed into the control system.
 
Plus, the color-changing Dyna Drum HO fixtures feature RGBW chips, providing a wide color range one can select from when creating lighting content. The Dyna Drum HO is available in several beam angles and lens options. Both Dyna Drum models feature four-channel, DMX-512 control systems, including built-in wired and wireless protocols.

Plus, Dyna Flood HO, high-powered, quad-color LED flood units, supplies precisely matched colors in outdoor settings to illuminate facades, structures, landscapes and monuments. Consuming over 60 watts, Dyna Flood HO delivers 1,579 lumens of brightness at a 20-degree beam angle, delivering efficacy of 26 lumens per watt. The Control systems are based around ETC Mosaic show control, ETC Response Net3 Gateways, and Acclaim RDS6 DMX/RDM opto splitters that support a custom control/content playback system created by the San Diego-based studio of Sosolimited, an art and technology consultant that specializes in interactive environments and multi-sensory design. Working with SoSo’s content playback platform, which is operating on a Mac Mini, the complex control system enables precise, dynamic lighting schemes. Thanks to crisp and colorful LED lighting, the architectural features of the iconic Jewel on the Bay are greatly enhanced at night, providing a treat for the eyes on the San Diego evening cityscape, whether seen from land, sea, or air.