Faith Baum ~ Coming Home

I remember losing my saddle shoe in the boat ride at White City Amusement Park when I was five.  And when a fancy cinema replaced the Amusement Park just a few years later, my parents let me go to a movie on a Saturday night for the very first time: the film was My Fair Lady with Julie Andrews and my date was my big brother, Al.

Spag’s.  Bowling.  Shopping trips to Natick.  My first job at The Red Barn, a massive music and dance venue on Route 9 in Westboro.  All of these took me over Lake Quinsigamond and what is now the Kenneth F. Burns Memorial Bridge.

Who knew what the future would hold?

On November 1, 2015, I stood in Regatta Park and listened to speeches about the lake, the bridge, the man it was named after and the team that had collaborated with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to bring the new bridge to fruition.  I had the honor of being the lighting designer for the new structure, creator of the lighting that resulted in cheers, hoots, boat whistles and my favorite line of the night from the Lieutenant Governor, who proclaimed that the bridge had “out-Zakimed the Zakim Bridge!”

It’s time to add another memory to the list: the night I was able to give something in return.  I can only hope that the nighttime image of the Ken Burns Bridge will be as enduring and memorable for the communities of Worcester and Shrewsbury as my memories of that place and time.

LEED V4 Lighting Review - Installment One - Indoor Environmental Quality

By Faith Baum & Elizabeth Johnson

Illumination Arts had the privilege of being selected as a Subject Matter Lead for the LEED v4 Reference Guides, working with a team assembled by our colleagues at YR&G.  Participating in this process has given our team a unique perspective on the development and intent of the lighting-related LEED credits.

Changes to the LEED Rating System include new categories, shifts in point distribution and streamlined organization of related categories.  While LEED requirements have always sought to reduce energy usage and ensure occupant comfort, version 4.0 shifts focus from limiting the environmental impact of lighting to increasing the positive contributions that lighting can bring to a project.

Some of the lighting-related credits have become simpler to document while others have become more challenging.  Over the coming year, our bi-monthly Light Notes newsletter will include a discussion of each of the categories that are affected by lighting.  This month, we are focusing on Indoor Environmental Quality – Interior Lighting, which applies to both buildings and interiors.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

EQ CREDIT INTERIOR LIGHTING

The Interior Lighting credit is intended to promote occupant productivity and comfort while providing high quality lighting. It applies to New Construction, Schools, Hospitality, Data Centers, Warehouses and Distribution Centers. Retail and Healthcare projects can also use this credit with modified requirements. Two possible points are available and either one or both can be pursued.

The Lighting Control option, worth 1 point, is similar to the requirements in LEED v.3.

•    90% of individual occupant spaces need individual lighting controls with at least three light levels or scenes (on, off, midlevel).
•     100% of multi-occupant spaces must have

• Multizone control systems with at least 3 light levels or scenes.
• Separately controlled lighting for presentation or projection walls.
• Controls located in the same space as the luminaires they control.

The Lighting Quality option, worth 1 point, requires at least four of the following eight strategies be met.

Light Fixture and Source Based Strategies (A-D)

A.    For all regularly occupied spaces luminaires must have less than 2,500 cd/m2 between 45-90° above nadir. (Except wallwashers, indirect/direct luminaires not visible from above and adjustable fixtures.)
B.    The CRI for all light sources must be greater than 80 except for color changing and specialty sources.
C.     75% of the total connected load must have a rated life of at least 24,000 hours or L70 for LED.
D.     Only 25% or less of the total connected load in regularly occupied spaces can be directly-only lighting.

Strategies A and D are about minimizing direct glare. The higher color rendering required by Strategy B is directly related to the quality and appearance of the space.  Long life sources ensure that the design intent is maintained and the opportunity for lamp replacement errors is limited.

Surface and Material Reflectance and Illuminance Based Strategies (E-H)

E.    For 90% of the regularly occupied floor area, the area-weighted average surface reflectance must be at least 85% for ceilings, 60% for walls and 25% for floors.
F.     For furniture within scope the area, the weighted average finish reflectance must be at least 45% for work surfaces and 60% for walls.
G.     For 75% of the regularly occupied floor area the ratio of average wall surface illuminance (not including fenestration) to average work plane illuminance must not exceed 1:10. Must meet one of the previous reflectance requirements (E or F) or walls must have a minimum area weighted average reflectance of 60%.
H.    For 75% of the regularly occupied floor area, the ratio of average ceiling surface illuminance (not including fenestration) to average work plane illuminance must not exceed 1:10. Must meet one of the previous reflectance requirements (E or F) or ceilings must have a minimum area weighted average reflectance of 85%.

The combination of high reflectance finishes with indirect illumination reduces contrast between the room surfaces and the work plane, improving visual acuity and occupant comfort. Choosing four of these options to pursue early in the project design process makes it easier to design a lighting system and select finishes to meet these requirements.

Tax-Saving/Energy-Saving Buildings

Are you a property owner or are you considering buying or constructing a new building?  Are you a tenant, in need of expanded or repurposed space?  Are you interested in installing more energy efficient systems to help save on your operating costs?  Has the economy of the past few years forced you to put off these plans?  Well, a tax benefit hidden within the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) might help soften the blow of the cost of these improvements, while saving on energy and maintenance costs! 

More specifically, Section 179D can make it worthwhile for a building owner or tenant to make improvements to their lighting, HVAC or building envelope.  Do I have your attention?  I hope so, because not many people seem to know about this, and you can earn a tax deduction for any new building or renovation completed between 2006 and 2013 that exceeds the 2001 energy code requirements.  How hard is that, given that the code has become significantly more stringent in the past ten years?  

The maximum deduction available under Section 179D is $1.80 per square foot for projects that exceed the overall code requirements by 50% or that meet the individual criteria for these three categories ($.60 per square foot each).  While the HVAC and envelope incentives are awarded on an “all or nothing” basis, partial deductions are available for lighting, ranging from $.30 to $.60 per square foot.  If your lighting meets today’s code, you can be sure that you’d be able to claim at least a partial deduction.

For private owners and tenants, this deduction applies to all types of commercial buildings including hotels, retail stores, parking decks, office buildings, etc as well as apartment complexes of more than four stories.  However – and now I’m talking to the architects, engineers, and others responsible for the design of these buildings – deductions are available for publicly-owned buildings as well!  In that case the deduction goes to the members of the design team (architect, engineer, and/or lighting designer) responsible for specifying the energy efficient systems. 

Meeting the criteria for the deduction requires the participation of an accounting professional as well as an engineer who was not involved in the project design.  The engineer is responsible for the review and evaluation of project documents and preparation of the required third-party documentation, including energy modeling.  The accountant is, of course, responsible for preparation of the appropriate IRS documentation.

Particularly in these difficult economic times, EPAct 2005 offers opportunities for an owner or tenant to move forward with a project that has been stalled due to concerns about cost.  For public projects, it can help design firms offset some of the losses they’ve suffered in reduced fees and expanded project schedules, which are side effects of the financial crisis.  In either case, making it possible for new projects to move forward is a win-win for everyone involved, including the employees, residents and guests of the spaces they build.

This article will appear in the December 2011 issue of the Sobel & Co. newsletter.  
Check back here for a link to the newsletter when it is published.

The IALD takes New Orleans

New Orleans Streetcar - Note the LED Headlight

The IALD Enlighten Annual meeting is one of my favorite yearly events.  It is one of the few times in the year where designers and manufacturers with a love of lighting design gather together to talk about light, period, no sales, no products.  Just fantastic discussions with wonderful people.

This year the meeting took place in New Orleans, a city I somehow have never managed to visit before.

The four days at the conference were filled with a wide array of experiences and topics, a few of the highlights:

This year there was a large group of energetic and incredibly bright students attending the meeting.  Most of them had at least some of their costs offset by the IALD Education Trust.  

I am always blown away by how engaged and excited these students are for the world of lighting.  That the industry is attracting such bright people is a real positive sign for its future.

In addition to the students, there was a large contingent of Emerging Designers in attendance.  Emerging Designers are people with less than five years in the industry and they too brought a fresh and new perspective to many of the discussions.  A real plus in having them there.

With seminar tracks ranging from design, to business principles  to marketing there is a wide range of issues covered over the three days, but personally, my favorite event is the Town Hall Meeting held at the end of the last day.

The Town Hall provides an open forum that can cover a huge range of issues that are important to lighting designers.  This year’s topics ranged from energy codes, to client relations and collections to having enough “sexiness” in your designs.  

It’s a unique opportunity for the exchange of ideas, and provides plenty of chances to laugh, agree with and disagree with your colleagues.

Corn Stalk Fence in the Garden District

Very crowded tomb in the Garden District

As for New Orleans itself, my brief three day experience presented a study in contrasts in my perspective on the city.

On the one hand there was the elegance of the grand homes in the Garden District, the nostalgic experience of riding an open air trolley across town, the history and architectural interest in the tombs in the cemetery I visited and the wide array of art found in the galleries of the French Quarter.  

However, the charm and interest of these areas was often contrasted by the obvious poverty and decay on display all over town.  With down and out individuals around every turn, it was sometimes hard to believe you were in a city in the U.S., never mind one so important to developing so many aspects of our music and culture.

The city certainly still needs the attention of the rest of the country in order to return to its grander days.  Perhaps as the economy turns and opportunities for new projects and infrastructure emerge, New Orleans will benefit from some much needed attention.

For me, overall, it was a fun, productive and educational three days in the Big Easy.  Very much worth the visit.