9 minute read
Lighting Populus
Stunning Nature-Inspired Design at the First Carbon Positive Hotel in the U.S.
By Stefanie Schwalb
When you think about the term “urban oasis,” it’s often synonymous with a city’s distinctive, beautiful natural spaces or a luxurious metropolitan living experience. As of October 15, Denver-based Populus combines and elevates the two much further with nature-inspired design based on Aspen trees (Populus tremuloides) and environmentally conscious hospitality.
The hotel, which is keenly focused on the planet’s health and a guest experience rooted in mindfulness, features 265 guestrooms, two restaurants (Pasque and Stellar Jay), and flexible event and meeting spaces. The project developer is Urban Villages; the design architect is Studio Gang, and interior designer is Wildman Chalmers Design (WCD).
LS Group served as the lighting consultant, responsible for designing and specifying all of the architectural lighting. While the interior design teams selected all of the decorative fixtures, LS Group worked collaboratively with them from a peer review standpoint.
“They would run a fixture by us, we would dissect it, and make sure that technically it worked for the project,” LS Commercial Project Director Kristen Kordecki Miller said. “That involves ensuring that the color temperature is aligned with the rooms those fixtures are specified for and that the wattage is consistent and within our energy consumption allocation.” A major part of hospitality projects is the low-end dimming capabilities, she added, and many decorative fixtures may not be quite where they need to be.
In addition to technical prowess, LS Group was also immersed in the project’s unique collaborative process. “Rather than highlighting the architecture, lighting is integral to it because the interior concepts were so strong, more so than on many of our other projects,” Miller noted when discussing her team’s initial schematic design devised to light the property and align with the Populus narrative. “Many of our concepts made it into the project, so it’s great to see from start to finish everything we proposed and everything that ended up getting installed.”
It’s a major testament to WCD, she added, that they allowed LS Group to be collaborative on its take and interpretation of creating different personalities along the hotel’s verticality. The result is that levels 1 (the entryway and day-dining destination, Pasque) and 2 (the event and meeting spaces) serve as connection floors; levels 3-12 as guest floors made for recharging; and level 13 as a main attraction (home to the dynamic rooftop bar and restaurant, Stellar Jay).
“Levels 1 and 2 are all about being grounded in natural light. There are a ton of layers. It’s rich, and it anchors the rest of the structure and verticality,” Miller explained. “Levels 3-12 are comforting but also quiet because ownership wanted that for guest-room levels. There’s a lot of shadow play, patterning, and contrast, which is a huge part of lighting design. It’s using contrast as a means to accentuate architecture and interiors, but not have too much of a high contrast to where it’s uncomfortable for a guest experiencing that space.” And while the idea of dappled light became a cornerstone of the project throughout, she added, it’s prominent, especially within those corridors.
Meanwhile, level 13 is luxurious, attractive, shimmery, and gold, and the lighting—of course—is a large part that. “It’s energized, beautiful, striking, and elevated. We want people to stay and hangout, so it’s very airy and open.”
Back down on the first floor, we’d be remiss not to mention the Reishi Tapestry artwork hanging above the entryway and Pasque. This eye-catching sculpture, conceptualized by WCD, doubles as a light source and is constructed from close to 500 sheets of Reishi™, a revolutionary leather-alternative by MycoWorks engineered from the root structure of mushrooms with their patented platform Fine Mycelium™.
Casting a warm, inviting glow on the space, it also enhances the lobby’s forest-inspired look, feel, and aroma. “The Reishi Tapestry has its own story— that was very unique. The design and installation were definitely a first for us,” Miller explained. “It falls outside of our initial schematic design package because it needed its own concept design. Once we understood the components of that system, we worked closely with the interior team on physical mockups. They had to make sure our lighting approach appropriately lit it the way they were intending.”
The experience was very hands-on for LS Group because it was a proof of concept, and they needed to make sure the way they envisioned the lighting to be installed came to fruition. “Lighting is such a finicky thing. You think it’s going to look one way, and then you get onto the built environment and it might have a slightly different appearance,” Miller continued. “So, that was a monumental statement of the project which required a lot of attention. We actually have three layers of light within that system. We have a continuous light at the back of it, pin spots within, and then wall washers out in front. There are three components of artificial light in order to achieve that effect.”
Not only that, but once the installation was in place, lighting it took two phases. Phase one entailed making sure the light was appropriately placed; phase two involved getting the light levels to exactly where the team wanted them so that it really glows. “Because the installation serves as the main source of light in the bar—there’s actually no lighting in the ceiling beyond that component—we needed accent light, high light, task light, and ambience. We needed to hit all of the marks.”
To accomplish this goal, there are two separately controlled sections of curved track lighting on a low-voltage magnetic track. “We knew that the artist was going to be installing this in situ, so as the lighting designer, we needed flexibility onsite for exactly where those lights were placed after the fact. Track was the best option because you have this continuous run; the whole thing is powered up – it’s magnetic, and the fixtures are very small. We don’t want to see the fixtures, but we need that flexibility, so that was a chosen specification tailored to that single installation. It’s not a spec we used anywhere else.”
In addition to being a LEED gold-certified building, there are additional aspects of sustainability with regard to lighting. “One of the things to note is the corridors. By code, they do not need to be dimmable or on occupancy sensors, but we wanted to take one of the larger floor plates and make sure that it exceeded the requirements for control and the LPD allocations,” Miller explained. “So, in the corridor specifically, not only do we have occupancy sensors, but we designed the zones to be fully dimmable.” Plus, knowing that a majority of the lighting load is going to be coming from the guest rooms, LS Group was able to reduce the lighting load in them with the use of high-efficiency, low-wattage fixtures—tactfully and minimally. “That means putting light where it makes sense and using the lighter surfaces as a means of reflectivity.”
What about the exterior lighting? Actually, there isn’t any, and that was by design. “We worked with Studio Gang on some options for exterior lighting, and over the course of time, we actually ended up reducing the amount of light that we had,” Miller said. “We didn’t start with a lot of lighting on the exterior to begin with, but over time, we actually reduced it even more. That’s because the concept was to let the building be lit from within rather than putting any light on that exterior skin. It really draws attention and focus to the shape of the windows and their arches, which was a key element in the lighting approach.”
After such a massive and innovative undertaking with this project, what else is on Miller’s professional bucket list? “That’s a good question. My ultimate goal would be to fully light a project with only indirect lighting. I would like to eliminate every point source if I can—and I’m getting close,” she enthused. “I think that there’s something so warm, inviting, and comfortable with indirect light, and there are ways to achieve code-required light levels by using it. We just have to be comfortable enough to let ourselves get there. Get away from what we’re used to and allow ourselves to try something new. We have the tools, and we have everything at hand to get to the end result.”
Miller and LS Group hold themselves to a very high standard, and when ownership appreciates, understands, and supports them as lighting designers, it makes for a beneficial and beautiful relationship in the end, Miller concluded. “[With Populus], Urban Villages was very versed, involved, and supportive of the lighting design, which made for an absolutely incredible collaborative and pivotal project.”
