Fish & Richardson: Perfecting the Law of Light

Fish & Richardson, a leading intellectual property law firm based in Washington, D.C., specializes in protecting and advancing big ideas. A one-of-a-kind matrix of Luminii lighting in the firm’s office exemplifies these big ideas, in addition to conveying a sense of order and supreme diligence.

Diagonal LED light strips dart throughout the firm’s spaces — from corner office to conference room to cafeteria. Their angular yet direct placements make a strong statement: in the age of instant information and rapidly evolving technology, Fish & Richardson works at the speed of light.

“The space was designed with a focus on collaboration, interaction and movement,” Fish & Richardson said in a statement on becoming the first tenant of the 1000 Maine flagship building in The Wharf development along the Potomac River.

To deliver on this design intent, Fish & Richardson provided an inspiration image that resulted in intersecting lines of light throughout the 60,000-square-foot office, which occupies two floors of the LEED Gold Core building.

“The inspiration image really drove the ceiling layout,” said Erin Werner, senior lighting designer at SBLD Studio. “We were charged with integrating lighting into the recessed tracks of intersecting lines; however, the fixtures provided in the image exceeded the owner’s budget. That’s where Luminii came in. They provided a versatile and flexible product line that helped us achieve the right outputs and color temperatures we needed. It is a high-quality product that met the project budget.”

 

Luminii’s LL36 LED in 3000K, which was installed inside the Kendo M channel, was selected for its low-profile and diode-free imaging. The LL36 is a highly versatile product with a copper board core that allows for better heat dissipation and even illumination over long runs.

“We found that a tape light was the best solution due to output requirements, sizing and the need for a flexible fixture that could be field-cut,” Werner said.

The recessed lines in the ceiling carry across both floors, including corridors and portions of the cafeteria — all with a goal of connecting the offices and bringing different spaces together.

Because of Washington, D.C.’s low building profile requirements, architects often minimize ceiling height to maximize space. With a smart lighting approach, however, rooms can appear and feel larger.

“D.C. is known for low ceilings and particularly low plenums,” Werner said. “We look for lighting with very low profiles, so we don’t have to lower the ceilings and make the spaces feel smaller than they are. Luminii’s LEDs, channels and mounting clips all make for an extremely slim profile.”

The Luminii Kendo M channel utilized in this project is made-to-order up to 144 inches. The dot-free, frosted fixture dims with minimal color shift and has CRI and R9 values up to 98. Thanks to a proprietary strong bond solder method, Luminii’s Kendo M can handle up to 50 pounds of torque on wire leads and connectors.

Another challenge at Fish & Richardson’s Washington, D.C., office was the precision of the ceiling design and unobstructed view of the fixtures.

“The ceiling design had very specific dimensions,” Luminii Northeast Regional Manager Ryan Raica-Scallan said. “The intersections added complexity in pulling off the look the owners wanted to achieve.”

“The drywall contractor constructed a slot in the ceiling and recessed what is typically a surface-mounted fixture to create a clean, recessed application in much of the office space,” Raica-Scallan continued.

The ability to modify Luminii’s products in the field was essential to delivering the distinctive, sharp look Fish & Richardson desired.

Luminii’s high-performance LineLED LL series is highly customizable, with multiple power feed and connector options. It is available in single or double row configurations, ranging from nine to 54 LEDs per foot. The entire product line is known for outstanding color consistency with single binning and CRI values up to 98.

To best meet the client’s evolving needs, Luminii delivered individual components that could be assembled in the field. This allowed the construction team to modify the lighting installation based on field conditions.

“By not shipping complete fixtures, the contractors could cut the extrusions to the exact length they needed and insert them into the mounting details they had,” Raica-Scallan said. “They were able to trim the LED back based on the cutting increments to fill in the grid.”

The construction team also had peace of mind knowing there was flexibility to make further adjustments on the ground, if needed. For example, if the ceiling design changed at any point, the team could easily adjust Luminii products on the spot without delaying the project by waiting for a new fixture.

“No matter how good the construction plans are, field conditions cause things to shift,” Raica-Scallan said. “This is where we really step up and help the contractor figure out details wherever we can — from creating shop drawings to providing the team with samples and showing how things can go together to visiting sites, if needed.”

The products’ flexibility, coupled with Luminii’s unmatched reputation for customer service and pre-construction planning, made a positive impact in the field.

The finished product presents clean, uninterrupted lines of light throughout Fish & Richardson’s office. Together, those lines create what Werner calls “big moments.” Clean and simple visual statements can be difficult to pull off, however.

In this case, Luminii delivered diode-free products that emitted continuous lines of light.

“Making sure the diodes aren’t visible is really important,” Werner said, “especially when the fixture is directly visible, versus tucked out of sight in a cove.”

The contrasting dark metals, stone, liquid element flooring and sporadic pink accents that pay homage to the city’s famous cherry blossoms create a stunning combination. They also presented a complex challenge: finding the right output throughout the office.

“We had some difficulty finding the right output in the field,” Werner said. “A big difference with Luminii is that they have so many different tapes within their channels that we could experiment with.”

“We have a wide range of light outputs,” Raica-Scallan said, “and that allows customers to fine-tune and select the correct output for the space. We were able to provide Fish & Richardson with a toolkit of samples and helped them specify the right product for the space.”

Luminii had both the expertise and products Fish & Richardson needed to achieve its sophisticated vision of interaction and movement.

“The project really exemplifies what Luminii stands for: unmatched quality of light, highly modifiable design options and tireless advocacy on behalf of our customers,” Raica-Scallan said. “We are extremely proud of how Fish & Richardson’s Washington, D.C., office demonstrates our products’ quality and adaptability.”

Project Resources

https://www.fr.com/news/fish-dc-has-a-new-address/

http://www.sbldstudio.com/project/fish-richardson/

https://www.wsp.com/en-US/projects/fish-and-richardson-new-offices