THE CHALLENGES
The newly renovated Church of the Covenant in Cleveland, Ohio, has a large, ornate, rose stained-glass window that faces the Seidman Cancer Center at the University Hospital’s Case Medical Center across Euclid Avenue. In a joint partnership project between the church and hospital entitled “Hands Across the Healthway,” the neighbours wanted to find a way to illuminate the stained-glass window so that recovering patients could view the illumination. The stained-glass window has a low transparency concentration, allowing only three per cent of the light from the inside of the covenant to shine outside through the window.
Designer and Installer Bob Halper, of Halper Lighting Solutions, along with Lew Sternberg, past-president of the Illuminating Engineering Society and principal of Lewis Sternberg Consultants in Lighting, were commissioned to find a powerful enough light source to illuminate the ornate window from the inside out – so that patients at the hospital across the street could view the window at night and use the visual as a positive healing tool.
THE SOLUTION
The Halper Lighting Solutions team decided that the best way to light the window to be viewed across the street at night from the healing garden was to position the light against the window by building a wall comprised of one of MaxLite’s 45-watt 2’x2’ and 14 60-watt 2’x4’ Edge Lit LED Flat Panels, all in a bright daylight colour of 5000K correlated colour temperature (CCT). Held up by two custom-built framed towers, the LED flat panel wall is set with an astrological timer on a Leviton dimming system that raises the wall at dusk and lowers it at dawn by a motorized lift, simulating sunrise and sunset.
THE BENEFITS
Because of the powerful and even light distribution, the LED Flat Panels were spaced 10 inches apart on the moving wall without hot spots or lines visible through the stained glass. Additionally, while the light is facing away from the parishioners, a good deal of light is reflected off of the wall and window and back into the church, enlightening the space.
ABOUT MAXLITE
MaxLite MaxLite has been committed to providing energy-efficient lighting products for the last 20 years, and was one of the first movers into LED technology in the industry. An ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, MaxLite established the MaxLED brand, an extensive line of indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures featuring innovative LED luminaires and lamps using the latest state-of-the-art LED technology.
“MaxLite’s flat panels were the best product with the best efficacy at the time of installation. We were extremely pleased with the evenness and sequencing of the panels from MaxLite. We couldn’t have hoped for a better final product” – Bob Halper, designer and installer, Halper Lighting Solutions
“The light is wonderful. The members and the larger community were thrilled when the window was revealed to over 300 people standing in University Hospital’s healing garden across the street. Over and over again, we are told by patients and families in both the cancer enter and the surgical waiting rooms how much comfort it provides. It is a magnificent transformation all around” – Dr. Robert Campbell, senior minister, Church of the Covenant