8 Acre Estate Home, Bethesda Maryland
We
recently completed this large project in Bethesda, Maryland, just
outside Washington DC. It is new construction on an 8 acre site and
the design called for subtle accents with safety and security in mind.
Because of this we choose not to light the large, mature shade trees
and ornamental specimens on the site but limited the design to more
intimate themes. The scale of the project meant that it was very 
important
to document everything for future reference. This would enable all
the subcontractors to understand the plans and to keep track of everything
over the three years the project took. As a result, every fixture
has a unique number which refers back to it's transformer and then
to its lighting zone.
Due to the scale of the project ILLUMINATA's role was
limited solely to the landscape lighting. No influence over the design
of the house mounted exterior lighting was granted 
by
the architect. Controls were designed by the client's control contractor
and switched power was supplied to a number of "interface"
junction boxes by the interior electrica
l
contractor. Our electrical contractor picked up these supplies and
distributed them throughout the yard to fifteen separate transformer
locations.
The lighting system consists of 23 stainless steel transformers
powering 213 light fixtures distributed along 11,000' of cable. Installation
took the better part of six months.
Paul Eddleston
October 2004
