© JackHobhouse
Sectional model of the Nantes Arts Museum. Stanton Williams architects
Nick Cramp - senior partner - and Jocelyn Urvoy, project lighting engineer from Max Fordham LLP, have worked with architect Stanton Williams to design and implement the natural and artificial lighting strategy for the renovation and extension of the historic Musée des Beaux-Arts. Stanton Williams’ design has improved public access throughout the museum and transformed its image from a closed and introverted institution to one that is open and transparent, fully engaging with its urban context. The new extension is glazed with a translucent laminated marble, drawing light into the building. The laylights that used to illuminate the Palais galleries have been replaced by complex superimposed layers of glass, innovative stretched fabrics and controllable blinds. The result is a ‘passing clouds’ effect that retains and optimizes natural light, connecting visitors with the outside environment. The artificial lighting scheme helps create a common identity for all these different spaces, carefully grazing historic stone walls and new concrete structures alike, matching linear extrusions of LED lighting with the grand skylights and glazing. How did you create the interface between daylight and artificial lighting on this project? Nick Cramp: Our client wanted to make better use of daylight and also have a flexible installation of museum lighting.
We designed an intelligent system that balances artificial lighting and daylight. The quantity of natural light is controlled but with a soft touch: on especially bright days, blinds start to close to preserve the artworks, but levels are usually allowed to vary in order to embrace the changeability of light from the sun and sky in both tone and intensity. Glass of varying transmission levels is used above the patio and for different orientations, to make the light more consistent and avoid overheating. Between the galleries and the external glazing, there are perforate blinds and diffusing membranes that help manage brightness and even out the light. We used Radiance with Cumgensky, and 3ds-Max, for instantaneous and cumulative daylight analysis, and modelled the artificial lighting with Rhino and Diva running Grasshopper. For analyzing the effect of different glass and stretch-surface build ups, we used in-house optical tools and plenty of practical experimentation.
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