An aerial view of Milstein Hall, Cornell University’s new Architecture, Art, and Planning building.
The second floor studio space hovers over the pedestrian plaza below that connects the adjacent buildings and provides outdoor gathering space.
A grid of recessed downlights in the plaza’s pressed tin ceiling illuminates the indoor-outdoor space. To increase the vertical light levels and create more visual interest at this main pedestrian thoroughfare, linear-lensed LED fixtures are integrated into the storefront mullions. Translucent seating pods on the “bump” are internally illuminated with color-changing LEDs.
The pedestrian plaza “bump” above created a domed critique space inside the building. Fluorescent striplights cast into the concrete ceiling provide bright, shadow-free ambient lighting and balance with the available natural light.
A custom frosted acrylic lamp sleeve was designed to alleviate concerns about glare from the T5HO lamps. The lighting control system allows light levels to be adjusted for special events and automatically dims the lights when the space is not in use.
The auditorium on the west side of the building is surrounded by glass on three sides. Halogen ellipsoidal downlights, with the same diameter aperture as the downlights over the pedestrian plaza were used due to the tall ceiling height.
Accent lighting for the front of the auditorium is provided by halogen AR111 accent lights.
The “bump” is cut at the stairs revealing each of the three different ceiling conditions in the building.
The studio space has an abundance of natural light from three exposure of full height glazing and 41 skylights. Custom six-lamp indirect-direct pendants were designed to mimic the form of the chilled beams. The fixtures are controlled by photosensors.
The glow created by lighting the upper floor plate contrasts with the light levels of the pedestrian plaza below.
