Beneath the Surface Blog

For the National Cancer Institute project which we’ve been working on for months, GPI had the pleasure of presenting our mock-up of the very unique backlit wood system last week in Washington, D.C.

Above: Initial project rendering by HOK

Over three years ago, Bill Hellmuth of HOK envisioned these unique backlit feature walls to bring light and texture to the long lobby hallways at the main entrance to the National Cancer Institute.  To translate the initial rendering of the backlit wood lobby feature walls to the photographs of the mock-up taken just last week, there have been countless hours of coordination between the surface, structure, and lighting elements. Our team has become quite captivated with the project.

Above: Mock-up photograph by GPI Design

The surface was the driving element in the conceptual design of the wall.  GPI Design sourced an exotic Redwood burl (yielding large panels), sliced the wood to under half of a millimeter and laminated between glass.  The seamless LED backlighting environment keeps the wood surface as the primary visual focus, pouring through the translucent wood material in an unexpected pairing of the newly redefined material with backlighting illumination.  Next came the custom structural hardware components engineered to hold the wood and lighting systems safely and in a complementary relationship.  The majority of this testing and detailing has occurred internally, communicating with the project team in D.C. via shop drawings and conference calls, so there was much anticipation built up over the unveiling of these illuminated wood panels.

Above: Mock-up installation progress

The GPI Design crew spent a full day assembling four of the wall panels to demonstrate our system (over 250 panels will be installed in the final project).  The mock-up was designed so that pins, joints, lighting controls, and accent lighting were all crafted to represent their appearance in the final installation. As the project team (owner, architect, lighting designer, general contractor) in D.C. arrived to the mock-up the next morning, sentiments of quiet contentment and satisfaction were in the air - a successful review with great dialogue generated.

Above: Mock-up review meeting

It’s creative surfaces and great project teams like these that make us fall in love with our job all over again.

THANK YOU to: HOK, MCLA, James G. Davis Construction Corporation, TSI Architectural Metals, Cleveland Marble, and The JBG Companies

The backlit escalator wall installation at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco is wrapping up smoothly.

Here's the project rendering again, described in our first blog post about this project:

Some photographs snapped from our cell phones in the field:

The clean lines and even illumination are the result of months of iterative detailing and expert installation.  A great project for our team to celebrate this weekend!

If you missed our first blog post about GPI technicians arriving on-site for this long awaited backlighting installation at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, check it out here (and take a peek at the project rendering).

After a labor-intensive weekend, the bottom and center rows of the custom-built 3Form Varia Ecoresin and wood slatted surface panels are now illuminated.

To ensure that the intense patterning of wood and light was not further disrupted by structural shadows and inconsistent lighting, the fastening system has been considered hand-in-hand with the backlighting system design from the earliest concept stage.

Blocking on the back of the 3Form/wood surface panels not only reinforces the eight foot panels, but also provides a channel to hold the Flat-Lite™ at the correct distance from the lens.  The combination of burying powered LED edges into the blocking and employing diffusing tapes ensures that hot spots are not visible from any viewing angle of the feature walls.

Notice the trapezoidal panel shapes along the bottom course of panels? With special attention to light collection in the acute corners,the LED light panels were custom designed with controls and filters to provide even illumination.

More photographs of the entire completed feature wall coming soon as this installation wraps up!

For the extensive renovation of the San Francisco Grand Hyatt in Union Square, the teams at Indidesign (interior design) and Revolver (lighting design) envisioned a custom panel and backlighting treatment to revive the wall surfaces at the main escalator.

Extending from the lower lobby to the main lobby, dark wood panels striated with thin lines of illuminated 3Form Varia Ecoresin clad the escalator walls. The custom-built backlit panels bring innovative light, interesting texture, and a unique pattern as viewers move throughout the levels of the hotel.

Above: Project rendering from Indidesign

The team here at GPI has worked on the project for over 6 months, coordinating closely with the millwork team at Acosta & Sons to merge our backlighting solutions with their custom wood and resin panels.  Flexibility has been key in the project, as field dimensions shift, so have our strategies, LED panel sizes, fastening devices, and methods of controlling and balancing the light. (Special thanks to Cliff at Acosta & Sons for hand-delivering the 3Form panels on a redeye from California to Ohio so we could test the lighting!)

The custom components (Flat-Lite™ LED panels, Infuse™ custom lighting controls, wiring, and diffuser panels) arrived to site on August 1. Shortly thereafter, GPI lighting technicians arrived on-site to assist with the time-sensitive installation.

Above: Photograph of the first day’s progress, east elevation center and bottom rows of LED panels installed.

We enjoy being on-site to finally witness these intense coordination efforts come to fruition. Stay tuned for more photos and updates as this project progresses - we’ll share more about the process of generating the LED panel design, how the custom wood /resin panels were created, and how shadows and hot spots were eliminated.

Update: new field photos and video from our 1828 L Street project

Original blog in [italics] below posted in April 2011

[Contact closures, relays, Cue servers, DMX decoder units, din rails… if you’re a conceptual designer, you’re probably not too interested in what those mean, but when implemented through a thoughtful electrical engineering process, these items can add a whole new element of fluctuation to your spaces.

Imagine synchronizing the vertical movement of an elevator with a lighting effect that “speaks” to the waiting patrons. At the renovation of 1828 L Street in Washington, D.C., lighting designers MCLA and architects DEP Designs envisioned a full scale elevator lantern that capitalized on the dynamics of time and movement (fitting for an elevator lobby). The elevator call lanterns take on a modern architecture with full height panels of backlit glass. Goodbye, standard call buttons!

Standard Elevator Indicator Buttons - small scale, appear "additive" to the architecture (Image Credit: robinsonsmay) 

Re-designed Backlit Lanterns - large scale, integral to the architecture

The design intent was to have the elevator lanterns illuminated at a dim level at all times. When the elevators descend to the main lobby at the first floor, the lanterns slowly brighten up to 100%, signifying the arrival of the elevator cab.  Pretty cool visual reinforcement of movement!

Custom controls by GPI sync the elevator control system with our Flat-Lite™ LED panels

Only one of the elevators descends to the basement; the designers wanted the lantern at this elevator to illuminate in a red color. At this area, GPI designed a dual-illumination red and white LED panel to backlight the glass. The colored and white settings were engineered to be controlled independently. When the cab is above ground, the lantern remains white like the others. The relay to the red LED string only fires when the elevator drops to the basement level, at which time the LED panel changes to its red hue.

Flat-Lite™ LED panel on white and red settings

This is just one job that goes to show the value of integration when it comes to backlit features. As you’ll often hear us advocate, to have a truly well-executed backlit feature, it’s much more about the LED panels themselves. In this case, the LED panels were properly designed to both seamlessly illuminate the surface and interface with the existing elevator control system, for a lighting effect that strengthens the architecture. The challenges of the project were perfectly suited for our team and we’re looking forward to publishing the final installation photographs soon!]

When you envision the city of Cleveland, the awful traffic ala NYC doesn’t usually come to mind, right? Driving home from work this week, torrential downpours streamed down from the suddenly gray sky, and power to the traffic lights was diminished. At Westlake’s largest intersection, this could have been pretty disastrous, but not with a reliable traffic cop ready to step up.

Waiting (impatiently, I admit) for my lane to be waved through the light, I couldn’t help but observe the brightly orange-clad officer confidently navigating the sea of cars. I immediately could relate to his role. The cop was a single entity directing a fairly complex situation, which without his involvement would have been a huge catastrophe. Ushered quickly through the intersection and soon cruising down the highway, I started thinking about exactly how our value at GPI comes into play, and how our strengths as a company are mirrored in the officer’s actions.

1. One entity

There is only one main traffic cop responsible for directing the entire intersection. Same as backlit features - with so many elements, you need one company to step up and direct all of the various components (structural steel, lighting products, wiring, power, controls, stone, glass, finish trims). This is true not only from a production standpoint, but from engineering, quality control, and installation. It’s a full time job!

2. Timing and Sequencing

When it comes to traffic jams, accurately timed instructions are key. Halting certain areas and moving others, the traffic officer moves with confidence with an overarching goal: to streamline. Same comes to our guidance of design, engineering, and production schedules to meet your clients’ deadlines (which are usually demanding, given our extensive work in the hospitality industry). A managing attitude is helpful in keeping all elements moving forward, from the very first sketches to final approvals.

3. Presence and Responsiveness

It would have been pretty tough for the traffic cop to direct over the phone, or from a remote location. An ability to think on your feet and react to a given set of circumstances allowed for a smoother outcome for all involved.  There’s value in having physical presence at an installation. As we all know, construction sites are unpredictable!

4. Put Your Best Resources At the Most Vulnerable Areas

Backlit features are inherently interesting, easily becoming focal points of spaces and even whole buildings. Don’t put your laziest officer at the busiest intersection.  For the best outcome, rely on the experts to direct the most visible (and scrutinized) areas of your design.

--> To ensure that your space doesn’t become a full blown rush hour traffic jam, choose companies with a proactive managing attitude to deliver the feature areas of your building. It's an invaluable skill that is only developed over years of experience.

Image Credit: ExpertInfantry via Flickr Creative Commons

For this recently completed commercial courthouse project in Denver, GPI's involvement ranged from stone selection, detailed shop tickets, quality control in production, and shipping coordination.  Our skilled installation partners at Cleveland Marble Mosaic took the reins on-site to complete the installation with skilled craftsmanship. These stone panels and cladding fit seamlessly into existing site conditions for a classic design statement in natural stone - fitting for a government courthouse.

With attention to detail from design to shop tickets to production to installation, over 230 tons of exterior stone panels were delivered cut-to-size for a smooth installation.

Stone Tickets

• Over 230 tons of natural stone material
• Thousands of stone panels in various shapes/sizes/thicknesses
• Angular, curved, thermal, miters, saw cuts, kerfs, pin holes, varying thicknesses
• Highly customized stone tickets
• Under 1% of pieces were incorrect or didn’t fit on-site

Shipping and Coordination

• Sequenced in 16 containers in conjunction with layout on site and installation schedule
• Packed and shipped with 0% breakage

Architect: Studio Insite

General Contractor: Hensel Phelps Construction Company

Stone Contractor: Cleveland Marble Mosaic Company

Photos courtesy: denverjusticecenter.com and denvergov.org

Back in architecture school at the University of Cincinnati, my all time favorite project was what the DAAP architecture and interior design students lovingly refer to as “The Box Project”. The task was to design and build a nine foot cubic space in reaction to a piece of music- an intense violin concerto.  What did I love about this studio project so much?

1. Challenged us to translate an intangible abstract concept into built form.

2. We truly worked as a team- from project managers, shipping coordinators, detailers, 3D model builders, and physical model builders- 20 overworked design students attacked this thing in 4 weeks.

3. Being involved from concept through installation was incredibly rewarding.

4. Managing the project to stay on schedule and within budget (a huge learning curve for ambitiously creative freshman with little concept of real-world feasibility).

5. Working with the concepts of layers, tension, light, and transparency.

The most intense moment during the four week design-build duration was when the custom colored acrylic on order from Florida became lost in transport, and we had to make an exasperated last-minute trip to Pat Catans to buy stained glass paint and create the colored panels ourselves!

Looking back on my design career, I can see why my student experienced foreshadowed my exciting experience at GPI- collaborative teamwork, addressing a project from a multiple of angles, and exploring the manipulation of surfaces with reflected and colored light.  The similarities are eerily striking!

What educational experiences provided insight into your ideal career path?

By Caitlin Walsh, Design Director at GPI

A photo update of our installation progress on-site in Norfolk, Virginia (see the Wells Fargo project rendering for the final vision). Most of the steel has been installed and a few FLAT-Lite™ LED panels were tested.  Everything fit together perfectly and it looks like the columns will be installed tomorrow.


The reception wall (above) had some framing adjustments, which pushed back the column installation.  Steel and LED panels for reception wall will be going up today, translucent stone panels tomorrow.


All of the DURA-Lite™ panels are prepped, mechanical fasteners are aligned and secured, ready for installation.


Framing out the square lobby columns (above) in preparation for hanging our stone panels. 


All of Terry's precise work and attention to detail in the framing systems and it's soon going to be covered up with the stunning Mercury onyx panels! Check back soon for even more progress on the finish surfaces and lighting systems.

2. The orange Mercury onyx that the designers chose for this project is pretty unique (see below photograph of the unlit stone) and is sure to look gorgeous all lit up.  Can’t wait to get those stone photos up on the website!

3. All of the corners are meticulously quirk mitered and have been detailed down the the millimeter, so the vertical reveals are a clean architectural detail.

4. The tolerances on our products are pretty low, so the size of all the stone panels, LED panels, trims, and fasteners have also been detailed down to the mm before production.

5. We’ve gone to great lengths to make sure the book matched  seams are perfect.  So we’ve been harping on our stone guys to make the perfect cuts and account for stone waste.

6. Every single component will arrive on site at the same time; stone, LED panels, wiring, all of our tools, our crews, even stainless steel trims.  That’s a whole lot of coordination!

7. This marks the second large commercial job which will be using our NEWLY engineered increased capacity FLAT-Lite™ power supplies with integrated dimming capability.  So full dimming control can be achieved through the Lutron BMS, and can be set for each individual interior lighting scene!

After months of coordinating between the general contractor, electrical subcontractor, millwork subs, and owner to make sure everything goes smoothly, tomorrow the ball drops – check in daily for updates on the construction process.

Thanks to all those who behaved themselves on St. Patrick’s day to prepare for the trip to Norfolk!

View the Wells Fargo Center project rendering