Healthcare Design - June/July 2016 - 48

HCDmagazine.com 07.16

recommends designing two to three layers of light
within a space. Take the two-story hospital lobby
that PBA designed for St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in
Pontiac, Mich., where the lighting was expected to
illuminate featured art, bring out the warmth of the
wood finishes, showcase a textured fireplace wall,
emphasize the volume of the space, and meet code
requirements. While the easy solution was a simple
array of LED or compact fluorescent downlights, this
approach was only capable of achieving a quarter of
the desired effects, Banfic says.
So PBA selected perimeter cove lighting with asymmetric distribution as a layer of light that's hidden. For
the contrast and focal points in the space, the feature
art walls, and the stone fireplace wall lighting, adjustable/aiming products were employed using long-life,
high color rendering index metal halide lamps as the
second layer of illumination. "To complete the scene,
the central area of the lobby required supplemental
illumination and the third layer of lighting. Since it's
hardest to access, low-maintenance LED recessed

BRAD FEINKNOPF (JAMES CANCER HOSPITAL); FRANCIS CAUFFMAN (DIAMOND CANCER CARE)

Tech support
Within those lighting source selections, the healthcare industry is seeing a noted increase in solid state
lighting, or LEDs. "This was not the case even two
years ago, but we have now reached the tipping
point in LED lighting where every lighting system in a
healthcare facility can use the technology," says Tom
Kaczkowski, director of lighting design for HOK (St.
Louis).
In fact, Kaczkowski says that major lighting manufacturers have embraced LED technology, greatly
extending their lighting fixture palettes and offering designers systems for pinpoint accent lighting,
grazing textured surfaces, or softly washing broad
architectural planes. "Most LED systems are also
dimmable out of the box, permitting cost-effective
daylight harvesting, load shedding, or simple preset
high/medium/low lighting level settings," he says.
While building owners and designers are attracted
to LED's energy savings and long life of up to 50,000
hours, Kaczkowski advises going with products that
have at least three-year warranties. "Also beware of
low initial costs for 'disposable' LED fixtures, which
must be fully replaced at their end of life," he adds.
"It can be a significant long-term surprise for future
facilities' personnel and budgets when an entire
patient room must be decommissioned for light
fixture replacement by an electrician, instead of just
replacing the bulbs."
Darko Banfic, senior associate and lighting designer at Peter Basso Associates (PBA; Troy, Mich.), adds
that LEDs' very high lumens per watt content creates
an extremely bright light source that can cause glare
and occupant discomfort. "The problem compounds
because LEDs' initial cost is high, and one way to
reduce that cost is spacing them out while making
them even brighter," he says. To address this issue,
and to enhance the end-user experience, Banfic

Left: In order to create
more of a hospitality/
residential-type
environment, HOK
specified various pendant
lighting fixtures at The
Ohio State University
Comprehensive Cancer
Center's James Cancer
Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Below: At the new Francis
Cauffman-designed Cheryl
L. Diamond Cancer Care
Pavilion in Long Branch,
N.J., completed in 2015,
architecturally integrated
feature lighting is applied in
the form of accent lighting
for decorative wood wall
treatment and ceiling
coves.

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Healthcare Design - June/July 2016

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