The Lighting Control Innovation Award was created in 2011 as part of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s Illumination Awards program, which recognizes professionalism, ingenuity and originality in lighting design. LCA is proud to sponsor the Lighting Control Innovation Award, which recognizes projects that exemplify the effective use of lighting controls in nonresidential applications.
This month, we will explore the role that lighting controls play in enhancing the visitor experience via producing a sky illumination effect at the Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas. Lighting design by Jim Holladay of PRG. Photography by Nick Mays. Lighting controls by Pharos.
The client required the illusion of natural outdoor lighting, while keeping the number of luminaires (and cost) to a minimum. The LED fixtures’ top and bottom portions are lensed and controlled separately, allowing for evenness and fewer fixtures.
The designers had to be careful not to cast shadows on the ceiling. The statues on the rooftops were lit from multiple angles to eliminate shadows.
The entire mall covers 636,000 square feet. Even so, designers were limited to two universes of DMX. Each universe has a maximum capacity of transmitting 512 individual channels. Additional control cables had to be run, in conduit for shielding, and all additional electrical work had to remain hidden. In one area with no existing conduit, wireless DMX was incorporated.
DMX was mapped so the base fixtures would have the same start addresses in both universes. 60% of the fixtures have the same address and can be plugged into either universe without re-addressing.
A wireless access point networked to the main controller is used to provide programming from the public areas. There are DMX to analog interfaces in nine areas, providing contractor control for the façade lighting.
Although exempt from the IECC codes, switching to LED fixtures presented a 30% energy savings.
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