Residential Lighting - Illuminating Engineering Society

The five-year building process required meticulous coordination
among the design team, contractor, city review board, and
client. All lighting required precise shielding to obscure
off-site viewing and to satisfy environmental concerns
and strict zoning codes.
minimize the “runway” lighting effect for hilltop observers,
save energy and maximize lamp life.
Once you arrive at the house, you enter a walled-in octagonal
shaped courtyard constructed of stone. After dark, the
courtyard is illuminated by three small and well-shielded 12-V
luminaires with 20-W MR16FL lamps mounted high in the
center oak tree. These downlights provide ample illumination
while projecting “moonlight” patterns of branches and leaves
on the ground. In addition, six custom cast bronze luminaires
were recessed into the courtyard walls and fitted with 13-W
CFL lamps to provide a visual cue to motorists with a subtle
indirect glow.
The pathway to the front door is also illuminated from above
by another inconspicuous shielded luminaire with a 20-W
MR16 lamp located in an adjacent oak tree. This concept was
carried around the perimeter of the house for all pathways,
decks and water features. Additional luminaires of the same
type and lamping were discretely mounted under the eaves
around the perimeter of the house to fill in. All of these lights
are circuited in small groups and are switched from inside the
house by a “whole house” microprocessor-based lighting control
system. This system allows the flexibility of the exterior
lighting to be controlled as a whole for security and safety reasons
from various key points within the house. It also allows
for local control of landscaping areas directly outside of individual
windows to become part of the interior scene for that
room, without turning on the whole yard. All of the lighting is
concealed from view and directed downward. For ease of
maintenance, all tree-mounted downlights are group relamped
each year when the trees are trimmed.
Interior Lighting
The lighting for the interior is a pleasant mix of decorative
fixtures combined with recessed architectural luminaires. They
are all switched by the same central lighting control system
used for the exterior. Each room has a keypad that controls var-
Narrow spots
over the
headboards
provide
individually
controlled
reading lights.
Mirror trims
allow flexible
artwork lighting.
30 LD+A/February 2003 www.iesna.org