Gateway Arch Museum

Lead Designers Suzan Tillotson, Ellen Sears, Katherine Lindsay

Entry Description

Creating a vibrant extension to St Louis’ focal attraction, the Saarinen Arch, has given the community a new gathering space that brings joy and excitement to all ages. The brightly lit ceiling creates the impression of a space flooded with daylight that draws visitors in and gives a real sense of connection with the outside environment. The new entrance creates a portal, drawing visitors through a bright, expansive lobby into the underground exhibition space and renovated tram lobby.
The glowing lobby ceiling, with tunable white LEDs integrated and concealed in aluminum tubes, facilitates ample ambient lighting while revealing no visible light sources. Multiple runs of linear LED are separately zoned to enable gradual dimming and/or subtle changes in color temperature as the ceiling curves down towards the exhibition space.
The curved tri-wire wall, which rings the exterior plaza and continues to the interior canopy entrance, is softly uplit by LED grazers within a recessed trough, guiding visitors as they enter and depart the museum at night. Small louvered linear LED downlights integrated into the canopy mullions quietly light the entrance and adjacent exterior planting.

Company Description

Tillotson Design Associates, founded in 2004, is a WBE lighting design consultancy based in New York City. A diverse staff with backgrounds in architecture, interior design, and theater, including several LEED accredited professionals, combine talents to create exemplary work. Together, our principals provide over 80 years of lighting expertise. The launch of Tillotson Design Associates came just after Ms. Tillotson completed lighting designs for the Seattle Central Public Library and Prada Beverly Hills with the Office for Metropolitan Architecture.