Architectural Accent Lighting from an aesthetic and performance perspective


The Blavatnik School of Government is a new building located on the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in Oxford.

LED luminaires, all of which are circular in their design, have been utilised throughout the building creating a stunningly simple and modern ambience. With Hoare Lea Lighting, WILA designed and manufactured a large percentage of the luminaires, customising a standard WILA luminaire to meet the architectural brief. Together with architect Herzog & de Meuron and lighting designer Hoare Lea Lighting a full portfolio of luminaires was developed to complement the building’s curved circular form.

The largest of the LED luminaires is the Halo Pendant with a diameter of 650mm which produces up to 3675Llm of 4000K light with a direct/indirect distribution, achieving up to 112Llm/W. The Halo’s body is produced using steel finished in RAL9007 grey aluminium, this is combined with a bespoke rod suspension and ceiling rose fixing detail. The DALI driver is housed within the central mounting bar specifically for ease of maintenance.

Within the Blavatnik School’s two horseshoe-shaped lecture theatres on the ground floor recessed Halo 450mm circular luminaires have been installed throughout. These fittings utilise a low glare Microprismatic optic whilst still retaining a high efficacy.

The cellular office spaces located around the perimeter of the upper floors include the Halo surface mount luminaire. Again these utilise the low glare Micro-prismatic optic. Although the luminaires have 90% DLR, they also feature an indirect element adding to the visual interest of the installation.

With polished concrete throughout the building the feature spiral staircase is a focal point within the building. Pendant 200mm diameter direct/indirect Halo luminaires have been installed at evenly spaced locations along the staircase. With varying rod suspension lengths depending on location, it was also imperative that the fixing detail was designed correctly to enable the rod suspension to sit at the correct vertical angle against the sloped ceiling.

 
Project data

Architecture: Herzog & de Meuron, Great Britain
Lighting design: Hoare Lea Lighting, Great Britain
Photography: Redshift Photography, Great Britain


Luminaires:

Project solution pendant luminiares (comparable S74 CIRCLE)
Project solution surface luminaires (comparable CLEAR)
Project solution recessed luminiares