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were delighted to be asked by Heatherwick Studio to design the lighting
for this Monastic Church at Worth Abbey.
The
original architect-designed lighting scheme comprised simple cylindrical
pendants and wall lights in a ‘rustic’ finish with tungsten
PAR 38s. The design of the lights was in keeping with the simplicity
of the architectural design and of monastic living. The inefficient
light sources were still being used at the beginning of the project
in 2010. The main body of the church was significantly underlit, so
that reading was very difficult and there was not accent or feature
lighting. The tungsten lamps provided constant maintenance issues.
The
Brief:
1.
To provide a new lighting scheme which significantly improves light
levels for ambient and task requirements.
2. A new scheme which utilises much longer life lamps, and which can
be maintained without the regular need for special high level access
equipment.
3. Will cater for a variety of services and events at various times
of day and year.
4. Which utilises the existing luminaires as far as possible and which
are to be refurbished for more modern and suitable light sources.
5. The new lighting should be fully dimmable.
6. It should provide feature and accent lighting as appropriate to the
architectural design, and should also incorporate new emergency lighting.
Solutions:
The
existing luminaires appeared like sections of rusty pipe with lamps
inside and this very simple pared down aesthetic was to be continued,
albeit in a technically more modern way.
The
elements in the church to be illuminated included the school choir area,
the monastic choir, the altar, font, and ambo (lectern), the cross the
congregational seating, the private chapels, and the impressive architecture.
In
re-using the existing luminaires, the obvious direction was to custom
design a small family of luminaires in the same style, which would carry
out different tasks within the church.
These
consisted of:
1.
Refurbished single lamp pendants previously over the pews were relocated
over the new elliptical monastic choir.
2. Refurbished up/down perimeter wall lights for circulation and lighting
of the ceiling, retained in position and some replicas added.
3. A four lamp version of the pendant to provide ambient, task, and
accent lighting where required across the church. In the old scheme
light levels over the pews measured an average of 70 lux with low uniformity.
During the design period we concluded that at least 120 lux was required
for satisfactory reading of hymnbooks. The achieved levels in the final
design were in the region of 200 – 220 lux to cater for flexibility
and lamp life extension through dimming.
4. A ten lamp pendant located at high level in the central lantern to
highlight the altar and ambo area. This fitting is mounted via a raise/lower
motor system for maintenance.
All
fittings are designed for consistent appearance and lamps are fully
lockable to maintain focusing. The lamp type is AR111 tungsten halogen
for good beam control and full dimmability. Luminaires contain anti-glare
louvres and emergency conversion where required.
Additional
elements include high level surface mounted spotlights to the Altar
and Font, concealed cold cathode uplighting to the timber roof, concealed
LED uplighting to the central lantern soffit and drum.
The
cross was also high-lit but to a lesser extent as in the Benedictine
Order the Altar is the focal point of the church.
A
Lutron system controls all the lighting. Fourteen lighting scenes are
set up for various applications and the system is designed so that scenes
can be added in to current scenes by pressing the appropriate buttons.
This means that a much larger combination of scenes is possible.
Photography Courtesy of James Newton
