Façade Lighting Design

IMEG provided architectural lighting services for the 750,000-sf renovation of the Railway Exchange Building in Chicago.

The façade of the historic landmark building was designed to fit within historic preservation requirements and included 2,700k to enrich the original terra cotta, custom brackets that minimize luminaire view while providing flexibility, and linear luminaires within each porthole to create an eyelid effect.

The owner desired visual interest and prominence along Chicago’s skyline, so color changing luminaries at the entablature highlight the cornice, either perfecting the uniformity or creating colorized patterns. RGBA provides higher fidelity-tuned 2,700K and vibrant hues.

A DMX lighting control system is designed for dimming definition and flexibility. Easy-to-employ user interfaces include both permanent and portable touch screens and computer software interface.

This all-LED solution minimizes sky glow by focusing on illuminating overhanging features. Scenes reduce light levels by 30 percent during later hours to save energy and minimize light trespass in adjacent residential windows.

The design team scaled back details while meeting the goal of moving from a single front to a corner composition and maintaining the budget.