Robert Hutchison Architects just got a beautiful write-up in Dezeen!
https://www.dezeen.com/2024/05/22/robert-hutchinson-1950s-seattle-building-event-space-garage/
Vitus Headquarters in Belltown wins an Edith F Guth Memorial Award for Interior Lighting Design. Great job Graham Baba Architects.
The "Bakerview" residence on Lopez Island wins the Energy and Environmental Design Award. Kudos to the client and the Krekow Jennings team!
The American Institute of Architects, The American Society of Landscape Architects Washington, and the American Public Works Association
--- What do these organizations have in common?
--- All three gave Owen Beach an award of Honor this year. Kudos to SHKS, Site Workshop and Metro Parks, Tacoma. Great public space.
https://aiaseattle.submittable.com/gallery/160caa80-db44-4de7-8fb6-81375d5115ae/32113503/
https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/owen-beach-apwa-award/
Congratulations to SCIDpda and Mithun for opening their 13th & Fir project (formerly Yesler Family Housing). Fun project, great result!
SparkLab wins (3) IES Seattle Section Awards for Kobe Terrace, Panorama Quinault Lodge and Courtyard.
#nofear
#extensionexercises
#lightwork
SEATTLE, November 8, 2022. Byrd Barr Place wins an AIA Honorable Mention. Kudos SHKS and team!
https://aiaseattle.submittable.com/gallery/160caa80-db44-4de7-8fb6-81375d5115ae/32460173/
To quote the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce - "Mariners open new brewpub near park"
Yesterday [August 23, 2022] - the Seattle Mariners officially opened Steelheads Alley brewpub and the Hatback Bar & Grille at the former Pyramid Brewery location at 1201 First Ave. S. Last October, the team announced it had signed a long-term lease to redevelop the 24,500-square-foot former warehouse space. The new businesses are open seven days a week from 4-10 p.m. On game days they will open two hours prior to the game or event. Steelheads Alley serves pours by resident brewer Metier Brewing and a menu focused on classic bar fare. Hatback's more extensive menu is based around American classics such as steaks, burgers and pizza. Andersen Construction led tenant improvements for the new businesses, which project architect SHKS designed. - DJC
SparkLab brings home a 2021 Illuminating Engineering Society Award of Merit for their work on the Woodland Park Zoo's Komodo Dragon exhibit.
The zoo’s Komodo dragon exhibit needed a mechanical and lighting facelift. The existing single-pane overhead greenhouse structure was thermally inefficient, and existing high intensity discharge highbays were noisy, terrible color, and insufficient for plant growth. A new roof, skylights, and electric lights to satisfy both animal and plant habitat requirements were requested.
SparkLab studied and calculated various options to achieve optimum lighting for both dragons and plants.
Plant PPFD requirements mandated special spectral distribution LED packages be integrated into luminaires for light that is best for photosynthesis. Sample fixtures were tested and 3000K CCT was selected so that the exhibit space would appear consistent with our perception of Komodo dragon natural environs. Real daylight entering through the Solatubes would also affect CCT experience. Terrific story on the Solatubes can be found here.
This project required significant lighting calculation effort, studies of different skylight locations, sample review of various manufacturer’s products, and assessment of fixture locations, output, beam spreads and aiming angles. Electric fixtures would be clamp-mounted to pipes for final adjustment and connected to 0-10V controls for tuning of dimmed level “scenes” and daylight harvesting.
Lights fade-up/down for 30minutes in the morning and evening, and are set to equatorial day duration, hopefully enabling comfort for these magnificent monitor lizards.
Located on a densely vegetated hillside, T-Mobile's US headquarters occupies a cluster of old, concrete office buildings with outdated exterior lighting. Gensler's, Brumbaugh's, and SpakLab's challenge was to help company workers feel safer walking around campus at night, to create a new dazzling, multi-use Central Plaza area, to build updated and consistent building entry portals, and to bring something special that celebrates the company’s distinctive “magenta” brand.
Special scenes are programmed for company events that are anticipated to be held outside, with lights focused on the stage.
The cubes scattered throughout the landscape steal the show, however. They illuminate surrounding vegetation while maintaining a completely concealed light source. Colored light, if desired, can be "dialed in" upon client request.
THE RENOVATION OF OUR REEDMER'S LUTHERAN CHURCH IS COMPLETE!
A project that transforms the existing 1944 Sanctuary into a new space for interfaith use, the lighting was completely changed. With focal points at the end (alter), center and side, a new directional lighting system and lighting controls were required to allow for maximum flexibility. Multiple options and calculation studies landed the design team, led by SHKS' accomplished architects, to a strategy that uplit the ceiling and trellis separators, and tucked linear reveals along the tops of wood walls.
The design uses existing wiring infrastructure, consumes 77% of allowed energy per code, and met a very strict budget!
Whether our art or yours, SparkLab enjoys sharing our knowledge of how light can embellish, reveal, integrate, highlight, shape, and communicate a message or tell a story. We were able to assist two highly talented artists last year:
Ghost Log, at Dickman Mill Park in Tacoma, Washington, by Artist, Mary Coss https://marycoss.com/portfolio/ghost-log-dickman-mill-park-mary-coss-public-art/
Tales of the Land: A Metaphorical Topography at Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport, Little Rock, Arkansas, by Artist, June Sekiguchi https://www.clintonairport.com/airport-services/art/tales-of-the-land-wall-installation/
Photos to be credited to the artists.
In October of 2021, Tartu in Light festival organizers brought four IALD lighting designers to Estonia to head lighting workshops.
After close to a week in preparation, students of lighting design, guided by SparkLab's CJ Brockway, worked tirelessly to prepare and install lighting at a quiet spot along the town's river-bank. Walking tours during the festival stopped by the site, encouraging visitors to walk down the stairs and explore the diverse natural environment, beautifully augmented with subtle and colorful light, below. https://tartuvalgus.ee/en/project/iald-lighting-design/
SparkLab gets a shout-out in SCIDpda's Sprintime Newsletter:
"The cherry blossom trees at Kobe Terrace Park put on quite the evening show this year with the help of the freshly upgraded pedestrian lights that were installed at the end of 2020. These light fixtures have been a part of the park since it opened in the late 1970s. Over time, however, the outdated lights became defunct and/or provided very poor visibility.
Special thanks to the Seattle Office of Economic Development for funding this project, and to SparkLab, Amiga Light, and the Seattle Parks Department for helping us make this happen."
Back in the studio at last!
Come by and visit our new digs sometime.
Check out the January 21, 2021 article in the Daily Journal of Commerce featuring the groundbreaking of the eleven50 project along the SE end of Lake Union.
SparkLab's been working hard with the Gensler team on this project for years and is excited to see it come to life! Thanks to Alexandria, DPR, Prime Electric, Westlake Consulting Group, Brumbaugh & Associates, Coffman, KPFF, and the whole team. This one's gonna be super cool.
Working with organizations like SCIDpda and the Alliance for Pioneer Square, SparkLab has been supporting alley lighting improvements in 2020. Check out our webinar here.
Our new virtual life.
#lightart #outdoorindoor #funsilly #nowifi #makingitup #haycanyonranch #bunkhousephotography
More pics here.
Following SparkLab's 2018 work with SCIDpda completing a Neighborhood Lighting Study for Seattle's Chinatown International District, SparkLab took a closer look at Kobe Terrace Park.
In need of maintenance and improvement, the pedestrian poles were determined to be the most suitable lighting retrofit opportunity. These robust, cast aluminum fixtures mounted to concrete poles were ubiquitous throughout the Chinatown International District in the 1980's and, while removed elsewhere, remain in Kobe Terrace Park.
The aluminum housings, still in good condition, contain an antiquated lamping and optical system consisting of a high pressure sodium lamp placed in the upper third of the lantern cavity, with light reflected downward by a concave reflector, and pushed outwards by a conical reflector. In addition to direct glare from the source, an approximately 12' diameter "donut" of light appears on the ground, with a dark shadow around the base of the pole.
Working with Bradley Sweek of Amiga Light and the Parks Department, one fixture was removed for testing and confirmation of the proposed optical improvements.
The project is scheduled for completion the summer of 2020.
Do them to learn, do them to communicate, and do them often!
From testing reflections on dark, shiny surfaces to assessing potential shadows from diffuse sources - mockups are important. SparkLab performed these (and many other) mockups for clients over the last few months in Covid quarantine. Show, not tell.
This fall SparkLab's seen, and been seen, participating in several events in the USA, starting with an interview during the Enlighten conference: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5SfZDJW44ZCPATv1ehAZN0#_=_
Additionally, CJ has joined artist Maya Petric giving a talk about alternate lighting careers to theatre lighting students at Bellevue College, and has participated on an IIDA OFS Student Roundtable talking about collaborations between designers, contractors, distribution and owners of commercial projects.
Top two tricky things about internal illumination of open-weave, perforated walls are: uniform interior wall surface illumination, and concealing fixtures.
To address this white painted, baffled, linear, grazing fixtures are installed at the top and the bottom of the wall.
Mounted behind white square grid metal mesh, the lights are just the right output. Overall uniformity is pleasing and low-glare. Direct view into fixtures is obscured, even at close proximity.
Top third tricky thing... focusing them all perfectly. Every slight adjustment / tilt toward or away from the wall makes a difference. No hot spots allowed!
At long last our approval came through. We can officially be known as a woman-owned business! Thanks to the DJC for the nice article:
Presenting a seminar titled, "Should Moonlight Be Warm?", SparkLab's CJ Brockway offers a deep dive into the design implications of residential street lighting color temperature and color quality at both the LED Specifier Summit in Seattle, and LightShow West in Las Vegas.
SparkLab contributes two light-art installations for the 2018 debut of Seattle's "Borealis, A Festival of Lights". Featuring a video projection mapping on MOHAI and walking tour of art installations in the South Lake Union neighborhood, the Festival was an overwhelming success. SparkLab's installations could be found along-side Mercer Avenue ("Talkin' About Traffic"), and in the stairway of the Troy Building ("Counting On You"). Kudos to the festival organizers, Mary Coss and Terry Morgan!
Also, huge thanks to collaborator and artist, Dave Misner, and sponsors LEDlinear, Wattstopper Legrand, Hollywood Lights, and Pharos!
Hard at work in the "Lab", Susannah Scott and CJ Brockway put together their experimental concoctions for the Borealis Festival.
Eyeballs everywhere!
A system of DMX controlled linear actuators and blinking LEDs bring Junior, Mom, Grandpa, and Sleepy to life
Rachel and Charles from Design Goggles welcomed CJ Brockway, Principal of SparkLab, to chat about 'Light and Day.'
Design Goggles synopsis: "For a few months of the year, Seattle is darker than anywhere else in the country. Living through it year after year, Seattlites have developed a special relationship with light, both natural and otherwise. How can we better take advantage of this special relationship in architecture and design? How can designers integrate light thoughtfully into their work? How come streetlights are so darn harsh? What's Kelvin, and should we care? (Yes, we should.)"
Upgrades to the historic facility at St. Mary-on-the-Lake in Bellevue, WA consisted of improvements to the Lounge area, Dining Hall, Chapel, Sunset Room, and Stairway.
Little improvements make a big difference.
May 17, 2018: Tableau Data 1 wins three IES awards - regional Edith F Guth Memorial Award for Interior Lighting Design, regional Energy and Environmental Design Award, and a national IES Illumination Award of Merit. Collaboration thanks go to Susan and Debbie with Lightwire.
SparkLab designs lighting for Tableau Software's 'Data One' project.
After a successful design for 'Northedge', Tableau's beautiful headquarters designed with Gensler while CJ Brockway was with Luma, CJ and colleague Susan Rhodes of Lightwire pulled together a stylish, low-cost and fast-paced lighting strategy for Fremont's data visionary software company.
A talented lighting expert, Susannah brings many years of experience doing hands-on theatrical lighting projects, corporate events, galas, concerts and trade shows to SparkLab. In addition to lovely lighting designs and control system programming, her strengths include project management and building and maintaining client relations. Susannah hails from Berkeley, CA and has a degree in Theatre from Western Washington University.
Susan Brockway and SparkLab's newest designer, Susannah Scott, show the interaction between light and materiality in an installation at the Design in Public Closing Party on September 22nd. Thanks to Dan White at NBBJ for the material samples, Sidney and Renee at Lighting Designs, Inc. and the team at Karass Creative.
"Lighting, You Know, For Kids!" - an AIA accredited talk by CJ Brockway of SparkLab, and Scott Kuyper of Luma, was presented Wednesday afternoon, May 10, 2017 at LIGHTFAIR International in Philadelphia. An exploration of the world of lighting as integrated into toys, CJ and Scott shared their research and example products during the 90 minute session.
In honor of UNESCO 2015 International Year of Light, lighting designers were asked by the IALD to make 30 second videos answering the question:“What does light mean to you?”.
