Now That's a Lighting Job! Chicago Courthouse to Use 9,000 Hubbell Fixtures

Hubbell Lighting, Greenville, S.C., a division of Hubbell, Inc. (HUB-A), has recently begun a major lighting fixture installation at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in downtown Chicago that will contain 9,000 new fixtures, including 7,782 surface mounted and 1,318 recessed fluorescent lighting fixtures.

Working closely with the noted New York headquartered lighting design firm, Domingo Gonzalez and Associates (DGA), Hubbell Lighting's Columbia Lighting division crafted a custom 12-inch wide x 48-inch long surface-mounted fluorescent fixture and an 8-inch wide x 48-inch long recessed fluorescent fixture both built to the Gonzalez firm's specifications. The new fixtures include modified optics to improve energy efficiency, T8 lamps and dimming ballast technology. The glass lenses of the original design are being replaced with white parabolic baffles optimized for minimal glare but maximum lumen output.

The original lighting fixtures employed two 40W T12 lamps powered by magnetic ballasts. By comparison, the new energy-efficient Columbia replacement fixtures employ a single 32W T8 lamp powered by a Lutron Ecosystem electronic dimming ballast tuned to desired footcandle and energy levels. The T8 lamp is estimated to have a 40,000 hr. lamp life. Details