Prize(s) Honorable Mentions
Lighting Design/Product Company Niteo
Lead Designers Erik Crowell
Other Designer's names Jason Edling, Hiroyuki Ono, Clara Tsao, Collin Tabata
Architecture Company Olson Kundig
Interior Design Company not applicable
Client Space Needle Corporation
Photo Credits Erik Crowell, Blair Payson
Other Credits Blair Payson, Alan Maskin, Ron Sevart, Carol Brown
Completion Date May 23, 2023
Project Location Seattle
Entry DescriptionThis iconic structure underwent historically significant renovations to the top observation levels, which were completed in 2018. The new glass floor allowed light ingress and glare from the existing floodlight system, disrupting the visitors experience and views. Maintaining the historic lighting design necessitated eliminating light trespass through the glass floor while utilizing existing floodlight locations. Other requirements included color changing capabilities and remote, off-site control via the lighting control system. It was conceived that high-powered projectors with precision optics and custom gobos could be utilized to create custom patterns, restricting the floodlighting to the structure and eliminating direct light through the glass floor. With 0.5 degree deviations in tilt resulting in beam shifts of 4’-0” on the structure above, extremely tight tolerances for both beam optics and gobo pattern production were required. A process was then devised and tested through mockups, utilizing a custom gobo grid pattern projected onto the structure to map each gobo pattern. These photos were then used to create unique gobo patterns for each fixture location. The system was implemented, light through the glass floor was eliminated during occupied hours, gobos cycle out during unoccupied hours for greater illumination,and color effects and controls requirements were met
Sustainability ApproachExtensive research identified a 440W color changing LED floodlight, with ample output to match existing 1000W metal halide fixtures and project a gobo pattern with less than a 4” deviation over the roughly 470ft distance.
Through the implementation of performance LED fixtures a 60% energy savings was achieved over the existing design. The precision optics and custom gobos used eliminate all light trespass not just through the glass floor but beyond the structure into the night sky as well, creating a dark sky friendly design that provides visual comfort for the visitors inside the structure.
