The 2004 GE Edison Award was awarded to Frank A. Florentine, William Jacobs, and David M. Heck of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, for lighting the museum’s James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. The personalized Steuben Crystal Award was presented by GE Consumer & Industrial, Lighting, on April 11 at a gala dinner reception at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.
The James S. McDonnell Space Hangar features 113 large space artifacts, including the Shuttle Enterprise and an instrument ring from a Saturn V rocket, and more than 500 smaller artifacts. "The scale of the project was overwhelming. It was like lighting players in a sports stadium–except the players weren’t moving. Lighting from different angles was imperative," says lighting designer Frank Florentine.
Low-mount track lighting, with GE 39W PAR30 ConstantColor® CMH® ceramic metal halide lamps, and high-mount theatrical fixtures, with 150W ceramic metal halide lamps, highlight individual artifacts throughout the 53,000-sq.ft. hangar. Light from different angles–floor, 7m-high towers, and 10m-high positions–combine to show the size and depth of each rocket. "Both the largest and smallest of artifacts are carefully manipulated to render scale, detail and drama in such a voluminous space," one judge remarks.
Clerestory windows and overhead track lighting with GE 100W ConstantColor CMH PAR38 lamps mounted 20m above the floor provide ambient lighting throughout the hangar. Special exhibits, like the Mobile Quarantine Facility, which was used to transport astronauts from the recovery ship to Houston, Texas, are lighted with fiber optics and LEDs. GE PAR30 ConstantColor CMH lamps in track fixtures highlight intricate mechanisms within the Saturn V instrument ring.
A prestigious panel of five judges selected this year’s entry for its superiority in the following categories: functional excellence; architectural compatibility; effective use of state-of-the-art lighting products and techniques; energy and cost effectiveness; and appropriate color, form and texture revelation.
The winning project was one of four Awards of Excellence finalists. The other Awards of Excellence winners were Washington Square Arch, designed by Domingo Gonzalez, IALD, IES, Nelson Downend, IES, and Deborah Tulchin of Domingo Gonzalez Associates (New York); Hyde Park Bank, designed by James Baney, IALD, LC, Carla Bukalski, PE, LC, IESNA; Maureen Mahr, LC of Schuler Shook (Chicago); architect: Florian Architects; and signage/graphics consultant: Grillo Group; and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-House, National Assembly Administration, designed by Andreas Schulz, Stephanie Grosse-Brockhoff, and Susanne Rottenbacher of Licht Kunst Licht (Germany).
Five Awards of Merit and two Awards for Sustainable Design were also presented at the GE Edison Awards ceremony in New York.
2004 GE Edison Awards of Merit:
Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History.
Suzanne Powadiuk, Suzanne Powadiuk Design Inc. (Toronto, Canada). Exhibit Designer: Reich + Petch Design International
New York Botanical Gardens Visitors Center
Domingo Gonzalez, IALD, IES; AC Hickox, IES; Anne Cheney, IES, LC
Domingo Gonzalez Associates (New York, New York)
Yufeng Bridge in Kunshan
Qian Liu, Xiaobai Fu and Xiaoping Lin
Gaoge Landscape Bridge Design Research Center (Xiamen, China)
Petco Park
Joy Yamada and Krystof Pavek Illume / M-E Engineers, Inc. (Wheat Ridge, Colorado)
Overture Center for the Arts
Francesca Bettridge, IALD, IESNA, LC; Marty Salzberg, IESNA; and Nira Wattanachote
Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design (New York)
2004 GE Edison Awards for Sustainable Design:
Seattle Central Library
Suzan Tillotson and Wai Mun Chui
Kugler Tillotson Associates (New York, New York)
Stillwell Avenue Terminal Station
Domingo Gonzalez, IALD, IES; Nelson Downend, IES; and Deborah Tulchin
Domingo Gonzalez Associates (New York, New York)
The GE Edison Award competition is open to those lighting professionals who creatively employ significant use of GE lamps in a lighting design project completed during the previous calendar year. Visit www.GEEdisonAward.com to view all the award winners of the 2004 GE Edison Awards in more detail and to find information related to the 2005 GE Edison Award Call for Entries.