Van Horne, IA
The district needed to upgrade the lighting of the Benton Middle School/High School gymnasium, student center and media center. The school was built in 1981 and by 2003 the school desperately needed a remodel and improvement in the overall lighting.
In the gymnasium, the users complained of bright and dark spots across the gym floor and dark perimeter walls. Playability was reduced due to the brightness. The average light level on the floor was sufficient, but the gym was uncomfortable. Don Gibney, business manager for the district, indicated that the walls were going to be repainted and asked Shive-Hattery to improve the lighting level, uniformity and overall space.
Fixtures were selected to create uniform lighting and improve the illumination on the perimeter walls. These fixtures doubled lumen output with slightly less power consumption. Users also benefited from softer lighting above the fixtures eliminating the "halo" above the old high-bays. The old incandescent exit signs were also replaced with new energy efficient vandal resistant LED exit signs.
In the student center and the media center, the fixtures were dated and did not provide uniform lighting at task level. A floating sculpted cloud ceiling in both areas reduced the amount of exposed deck and the rest of the ceiling was painted bright white. New fixtures dramatically improved the lighting uniformity and the feeling of spaciousness. Since computers are not utilized in the student center, the design team also specified additional lighting in the cloud ceiling to create brightness.
The school is now the envy of its neighboring schools. The community is very impressed with the results of the project. Neighboring schools tour the building and comment on the success of the remodel.
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tags: gym, recreation building, high school, junior, middle, intermediate school, library, lighting