Attracting shoppers with vibrant, inviting lighting
One of the main goals for the renovation of Maplewood Mall was to create an upbeat and inviting atmosphere to attract shoppers and make the mall a destination. RSP Architects of Minneapolis led the remodeling effort, which focused on the mall's large center court. The architects stripped the paint from the windows, removed the ceiling, and installed a new LED lighting system to brighten and highlight the area and create a fun and engaging experience for mall-goers.
The owners of Maplewood Mall and the architects called on local lighting design firm, Lighting Matters, to develop the lighting scheme for the center court. The design team determined that the volume of the space required a lighting system that had "presence." They recommended a geometric design consisting of clusters of different sized rectangular housings to play off the architecture of the space. These clusters would then be arranged over the space using various mounting configurations to create a pattern.
The rectangular housings were constructed of a plasticized white fabric made of two parts: an interior shade assembled from translucent panels, and a nearly transparent exterior shade that covers the interior shade. The designers mounted Color Kinetics iColor Cove MX Powercore LED luminaires around a center post in each shade. They grouped the shades into clusters of threes and hung them at various lengths from 4 m (13 ft) x 2.3 m (7.5 ft) mounting frames. They then installed the mounting frames along every other beam throughout the mall's center court.
The initial design called for all white LED luminaires, but the designers ultimately decided that color-changing luminaires would create a more engaging and cheerful attraction for shoppers. The lighting installation is controlled by a Color Kinetics iPlayer 3 DMX controller, allowing management to easily change colors and light shows at the touch of a button.
Lighting Matters chose Color Kinetics iColor Cove MX Powercore LED luminaires (now specified as PureStyle Compact Powercore, IntelliHue) because of their long source life, which drastically reduces maintenance and replacement costs, and their energy efficiency, which minimizes the electrical load and decreases operating costs. In fact, the entire lighting mall renovation effort is projected to reduce energy consumption by over 1 GWh annually, resulting in a $50,000 annual energy savings.
Maplewood Mall management is thrilled with the installation. "As a thirty years plus design professional, I find the installation of the LED fixtures at Maplewood Mall's center court one of the most impactful and successful installation I have come across," said Michele Meregaglia, General Manager at Simon Property Group. "The end result is stunning and very much a wow experience! Kudos to Lighting Matters for taking the lead role in their design and execution."
