The Frick Chemistry Laboratory at Princeton University rationally organizes office and laboratory space on either side of an open, central atrium topped by 216 photovoltaic-equipped skylights. The architecture indulges its mechanistic aspects with exposed-steel structural members and mechanical ducting, while also providing warmer touches in the form of wooden screens on the interior. Arup's lighting design complements this orderly and stratified arrangement.
In the public areas, the lighting designers subtly soften the rectilinear vocabulary of the building by using round-shaped fixtures. The corridors are illuminated by recessed CFL downlights, while in the atrium, custom bracket-mounted CFL luminaires fall into the rhythm of the facility's staircases and bridges. The office and lab wings feature linear T5 luminaires in both uplight and downlight applications. Arup further emphasized the difference between the spaces by using warmer 3000K lamps in all of the round fixtures and cooler 3500K lamps in the linear ones.
While these two luminaire types shoulder the bulk of the project's electric lighting scheme, the designers took further measures to emphasize the architecture. LED fixtures accent every third column along the atrium colonnade, both exterior and interior. The designers also used LEDs for the laboratory tasklighting and LED strips to backlight artist-designed glass installations in the office corridors.
Jury Comments: The lighting is very in-step with the architecture. • It shows a clear understanding of light and how to use illumination to differentiate architectural space.
