The Design Excellence in Networked Lighting Control Award was created in 2021 as part of LEDs Magazine’s Sapphire Awards. The Lighting Controls Association is proud to sponsor this award, which recognizes projects that push the boundaries of advanced lighting control.
This month, we explore an intensely detailed control application at the new FUSE building in St. Petersburg, FL, which earned a 2021 Sapphire Design Excellence in Networked Lighting Control Award for Automation. Lighting control design by Power Design Engineering. Lighting control system by Lutron Electronics and Crestron.
The new FUSE building, now the third on a corporate campus (aka, “the GRID”), is a 70,000-sq.ft., 3-story facility that incorporates a variety of space types and functions such as open plan and enclosed offices, conference rooms, a lighting and control showroom, film/video studio, logistics, and food service spaces accommodating the company’s recent increased employee population.
Major design criteria included having the lighting in the common areas relatable to the open structure architectural design and have all lighting control networked to save on lighting energy use, take advantage of East side morning daylight and integrate other building systems into one interface. To achieve this goal, all of the luminaires were carefully selected to have aesthetics and performance that blended seamlessly with the structure along with a building control system that can provide time of day, occupancy/vacancy sensing, daylighting and other building systems functions.
The design team set a challenging energy goal of 0.65W/sq.ft. for the building’s total connected lighting system, hence an all-LED lighting system was utilized along with a Crestron 3-Series automation system, achieving a goal-busting final total connected lighting load of only 0.56W/sq.ft. with all lighting loads at 100%. There are three floors of open plan direct/indirect lighting flanked by glass walled private offices and “huddle” rooms, a logistics/printing space, seven uniquely designed conference rooms, a café/coffee bar, and an “experience center” with room vignettes showcasing lighting and control system elements that a typical customer would expect to see on one of their hospitality and condominium projects.
Control of the building’s networked lighting, AV, videoconferencing, window shades and environment is accomplished with a centralized Crestron lighting control and automation system. Local controls are accomplished with Crestron Cameo® keypads and Crestron TSW-1060 touchscreens programmed with preset scenes as well as individual zone controls. These are also integrated with other environmental controls such as videoconferencing, AV, and motorized window treatments to give the users one-touch controls for a completely simple and intuitive experience. Leveraging the company’s extensive IoT experience, the design brings together disparate building automation systems to operate as one cohesive, transparent system. Small, inconspicuous photocell sensors are strategically located to allow the company to take advantage of the abundant Florida daylight. The system utilizes the data from these sensors to automatically set light levels in the numerous open areas to provide a mix of natural and artificial light. These sensors also incorporate occupancy/vacancy sensors that allowed the design to minimize the visual impact while maximizing energy savings and operational simplicity. The design allows the mixture of 0-10V and electronic low-voltage fixtures to operate as one, again bringing operational simplicity and system transparency.
Located throughout the facility are various networked flat panel video displays, including a 16’ x 9’ Planar video wall and in the Surge cafe, networked menu boards. These displays and the content they show are managed by the same Crestron automation system, and are used to display corporate messaging, emergency notifications, announcements and live editing of menu items.
The company’s Customer Experience Center includes a typical luxury hotel guestroom. Utilizing Lutron’s MyRoom® Hotel Guestroom Management System, customers can experience an automated lighting control system that integrates with the hotel’s guest management system. Simply presenting a key fob or a Bluetooth-enabled phone to the smart lock will cause the guestroom lighting to turn on to preset levels based on various conditions including data from the hotel booking system. For example, if the room is reserved, and the guest has checked in, the automation system will set the room lights to a predetermined level, open the motorized window coverings, set the air conditioning to a comfortable level, and turn on the TV with a welcome message. When the guest checks out and the sensors show no occupancy, the lights turn off, the air conditioning system turns off, the motorized window coverings close, and the TV turns off.
Also found in the Customer Experience Center are examples of a typical luxury condo, including fully automated Crestron lighting and AV systems. In the Living Room, for example, a single button press will turn on a video projector, lower it from its hidden location in the ceiling, lower a screen, and set the lighting to a preset appropriate for watching a movie.
Leave a Reply