A very contemporary design and a modern approach to lighting and architecture, the designers of Christies Beach High School delivered a specially-designed teaching facility that focuses exclusively on delivering educational and instructional activities in the areas of STEM. The stylish and relaxed environment is designed to capture and attract the imagination of young people and promote interest in the vast range of career paths and options available to scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. The lighting for this space had to use the latest in lighting and control technology and had to be visually stimulating to align with the already striking design.
Via our SA distributor HI Lighting SA, Digilin were asked to provide advice on suitable lighting and control systems to achieve the demanding expectations of the design. Most projects have particular challenges that need to be overcome and this is especially true for lined LED lighting. There is always some adjustments to be made to accommodate various obstacles and it takes patience and experience to navigate these. In the case of this project, most of the possible obstacles were present and it would require much hard work and attention to detail to ensure a positive result.
To explain the hurdles, the main system was an entry statement consisting of linear lighting in random zig-zag patterns at random angles, in random locations. The light required from these linear sections was to be high output white and RGB colour mixing. Each of the elements are to be individually controlled with multiple fixed colours, mixed colours, pure whites and dynamic scenes. And all of this is to be fabricated and pre-programmed in Brisbane, then shipped to Adelaide for plug and play installation. Also required for the interior was recessed RGBW linear ceiling fixtures, with the same level of dedicated controls to enable multiple scenes.
We set to work on the biggest challenge which was ensuring a seamless and gap-free fit of all the linear sections into the existing space. This required significant CAD work and ultra-precise angles to make all sections line up perfectly and more importantly light up perfectly. Once the framework was laid down, our engineers designed a linear LED system to provide the right output and colour/s with no hot spots or shadows. This design was submitted for approval and well-received by all involved, so our production team began the task of mitre cutting and joining all of the profiles, ready for installation.
Control was a modified version of our WebColour DMX controller, with customised programming to enable dual-zone and global control over each of the elements. As per the design brief, all of the whites, colours and scenes were pre-programmed, avoiding costly on-site programming charges. The user enjoys a direct selection of any of the colours and scenes via a wall-mounted touch screen. The entire system was shipped off with detailed layouts and schematics for easy installation by the contractor. Digilin maintained support throughout the installation process, ensuring the system was installed as intended.
The result is outstanding and we believe buildings like this can make a real difference to a student’s education. We sincerely thank the team at Flightpath Architects who had enormous vision and ambition for this project, and our distributor HI Lighting SA. It was a rewarding experience to collaborate with everyone on this project.
