East 54 A “New Urban" Development

Project owner: East West Partners Chapel Hill, NC

Photography: Jed Gammon, Raleigh, NC

Design Award Submission for the Illuminating Engineering Society 2011 Design Awards Program -

Site Lighting for an Urban Mixed Use Plaza Complex

Lighting Design by LightTech design Pittsboro, NC

East 54, is a "new urban" mixed use development. The seven acre project consists of 5 midrise buildings with shops and dining at ground level with

luxury condominiums and offices above a European style pedestrian plaza.

The lighting challenge was to create an environment that was lively to compliment the restaurant scène yet sedate for the comfort of the residents. The solution was to provide warm soft ambience and accent the retail and special features.

Located on a main corridor into Chapel Hill the project is adjacent to a championship golf course.

Color selection was carefully considered to provide visual comfort. High pressure sodium’s warm glow is the general ambient color while fluorescent and metal halide provide detail. Accent was achieved using ice white LED in the landscape. The overall effect is soft with sparkle from above yet a lively scene at the pedestrian level.

Ambient lighting by fixtures thirty feet on the façade was designed to fit the fenestration. At shop level fluorescent wash colorful awnings that flank the plaza. This light is shielded from the living units above by the awnings. Additional excitement is created at the pedestrian level by extensive use of LED landscape lighting.

Accent lighting was provided for architectural details

Budget was a major consideration in fixture selection as was ease of maintenance. As a LEED certified project, energy conservation was significant both for initial installation and light management. By incorporated timed scene changing controls including high low ballasts in the wall mounted plaza fixtures, the lighting is programmed to be reduced after the main shopping and dinner period and reduced again later in the evening to a night lighting scene comfortable for a residential setting.