2008-01-30
‘‘I think the new school looks amazing…’’ That’s how Year 10 pupil Liz, describes Southwell’s new £34 million Minster School. Thorn, through its relationships with architects Penoyre & Prasad, consultants Buro Happold and electrical contractors, J.M. Morris, has played a major part in lighting the college, which specialises in Music and Humanities and shares its facilities with the local community outside of school hours.
The lighting team has achieved a flexible design to match the functions, and their particular moods, taking place in the school – lectures, studying and socialising, as well as the shared theatre, recital room, main hall, café and sports halls.
Outstanding feature of the scheme is the central covered “street”, which supports areas for independent learning, as well as gatherings of the whole school community (its dimensions are taken from the width of the nave in Southwell Minster, where the school was founded over 1000 years ago). Lighting of the double height space is by triple clusters of cylindrical surface downlights, combined with lines of digital dimmable fluorescents with asymmetric reflectors, set above the perimeter walls. The lighting is pleasantly subdued with no glare and supplements the skylights.
Lighting is controlled by a Thorn SensaLink system, designed on the old adage “rely on occupants to turn lights on, but not to turn them off”. It comprises of recessed mounted presence detectors addressing groups of digitally enabled luminaires, controlled via local two button wall plates. The beauty of the system is twofold. The staff are able to adjust their own personal lighting to suit the conditions, and if any of them leaves the lights on, the system detects absence and switches them off. No central controller or complicated operating system is required.
The result is a new generation of educational building. Imaginative use of the latest lighting equipment has created an extremely pleasant environment in which to study and play, while the lighting design is both aesthetically pleasing and energy conscious.
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Related contacts
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Thorn Lighting
Silver Screen
Screen 2
Elstree Way
Borehamwood
Hertfordshire
WD6 1FE
Tel: 0208 732 9800
Fax: 0208 732 9801 |
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Source: Thorn PR |
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