Van Dusen Terrace

The Community House, Birmingham

Illuminata was recently given the opportunity to redesign the lighting on the Van Dusen Terrace of the Community House in downtown Birmingham. The Community House, is an independent not-for-profit organization established in 1923, It works in partnership with individuals, organizations and businesses to bring educational, social and cultural enrichment to people in the metropolitan area. The Community House provides an exceptional facility for meetings and celebrations and is a home for classes and programs that enhance the quality of life.

The Van Dusen Terrace is mostly used for outdoor dining and similar functions and is home to the Cafe on the Terrace during the summer months. The previous lighting consisted of line voltage, below grade, mercury vapor uplights on the Bradford pears (Pyrus calleryana) surrounding the terrace and short bollards at the three main entrances. The system had not worked for some time and had proven difficult to maintain due to corrosion of the screw threads holding the lamp covers in place. The Community House wanted to add some visual interest to the terrace which is under a large tent for most of the year. The tent contains adequate lighting for functions etc. but does little to enhance the space architecturally. Being a not for profit organization, cost was of course of primary concern. After assessing the space both at night and during the day it became clear that the simplest and most economical solution was to again highlight the pears from below. This would give a warm glow on each pear's trunk revealing it's texture and provide a nice accompaniment for diners. In a sense, each pear trunk would become an inviting fireplace for the adjacent tables. As the canopy of the tent is around six feet high at the edges, for most of the year the trunk would be the only visibly lit portion of each tree, at least from inside the tent. A couple of trees outside the tented area would be an exception, the lighting effect continuing up into the canopy. The spring bloom will be most spectacular. For economy only one light per tree was utilized but these were high quality, low voltage brass fixtures from BK. These are quite a bit more expensive than the more common painted aluminum but survive the harsh outdoor environment much better and prolong the useful life of the system. They have great shielding to lessen glare and incorporate the ability to accommodate numerous lenses and louvers if necessary. They are rated up to 50 watts but I selected a 35 watt, very wide flood lamp for a softer effect.

To supplement the uplighting on the pears and to provide a measure of safety the main entrance and the wheel chair access route were lit with discreet, slender path lights nestled into the surrounding foliage. These are also in brass but have a pre-aged dark bronze patina added during manufacture to help them blend more easily into the space. They provide a nice, soft, glare free pool of light while attracting little attention during the day. Again, they will outlive their equivalent painted aluminum fixtures by a substantial margin.

The steps to the building were deemed sufficiently well lit by the wall mounted sconce lights already in place so no supplemental lighting was added here. The new system is powered by a 600 watt, stainless steel transformer installed on the wall and hidded by the Hiks yew (Taxus x media 'Hicksii') hedge which is controlled by a local photocell so the lighting operates from dusk to dawn. There is adequate spare capacity in the transformer to accommodate future expansion of the system.