Overview

Supporting Derck & Edson Associates’ redesign of walkways and landscape features throughout the campus’ main hub, we designed 2,154 ft of new walkway lighting that complemented the landscape architecture’s style, while functioning within Penn State's stringent performance requirements for walkways. We also designed accent lighting that highlighted the features incorporated into the overall redesign of the hub, including a fountain, pergola, clock tower, and a statue of the University’s mascot. Connection of the new lights into the area’s electrical distribution system was done with a minimal amount of disruption to the existing surrounding landscaping and lawn areas.

Solution Details

One challenge was to reduce the energy usage of the exterior lighting while adding more fixtures. We were able to reduce the lighting load by 62% by replacing 150w, 250w, 400w, metal halide and high-pressure sodium lamps with 77 watt LEDs throughout campus. The improved lighting provides an average illumination of 1 footcandle with higher color rendering. The new fixtures meet Dark-Skies Association requirements, so light trespass from the campus is minimized.

To make it easy for the staff to control the lighting, a state-of-the-art Automated Logic Control System was designed for the lighting systems that uses an astronomic time clock, to turn on and off the lights automatically. The staff can also access, override, or change the program 24/7 via any Internet connection.