This new building’s architecture gracefully bridges an outward-facing Collegiate Gothic style and an inward campus-facing contemporary style. It is home to the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and supports Washington University’s data science efforts. Technology was an essential element of the design and building systems. RBLD employed multiple sustainability strategies to meet the University’s operational and LEED Gold goals, including installing a campus-standard networked lighting control system. Every luminaire was specified with an independent digital wireless sensor for on/off, dimming, daylight harvesting, and occupancy sensing. Initial light settings were trimmed to 80% of maximum levels for additional energy savings. This technique extends system life, as light levels can be increased in the future to recuperate fixture lumen depreciation.

RBLD collaborated with the design team to create flexible lighting for large, open, reconfigurable labs and collaborative spaces, as well as a complex multi-story grand stairwell. Cool color temperature and high color rendering light sources were intentionally selected to provide a sense of visual acuity for lab functions – even under lower light levels. Our detail-oriented team chose high “R9” red-rendering sources to give architectural accents to the school’s signature red extra vibrancy.

Lighting for this project consumes 60% less power than baseline energy targets; the building lighting power density is only 0.377 Watts per square foot.