Creating a vibrant extension to St Louis’ focal attraction, the Saarinen Arch, this Museum renovation has given the community a new gathering space that brings joy and excitement to all ages. The new museum entrance and extension create a central portal within the park, drawing visitors into a bright, expansive lobby and underground exhibition space.

The curved tri-wire wall, which rings the exterior plaza and continues to the interior canopy entrance, is softly uplit by concealed LED grazers within a recessed trough, guiding visitors as they enter and depart the museum at night.

Small louvered linear LED downlights integrated into the canopy mullions discreetly light the entrance and adjacent exterior planting. The indirectly lit ceiling cohesively and consistently illuminates the lobby throughout. Flexibility is built into the system to dim gradually from the ground floor to the lower levels with eleven preset scenes programmed to respond to the time of day. This was made possible by having each run of indirect, linear LED zoned separately. The LED fixtures have a color temperature range of 2700K-5500K to provide the opportunity for a subtle gradient of cool white light at the day-lit glazed entrance transitioning gradually to a warmer white light at the interior, lower floors of the main exhibition space.

Close collaboration between the architects, manufacturers, and lighting designer helped inform material choices, finishes, and these specialty mounting details. The glowing lobby, with tunable white LEDs integrated within aluminum ceiling tubes, facilitates ample ambient lighting while revealing no visible light sources. Dynamic white dimming was utilized for smooth day-to-night color and light level transitions.

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