Lighting creates 'sense of home' in classrooms

Lighting company Performance in Lighting was asked to help think about the lighting for the newly built elementary school Het Epos in Rotterdam. This led to a lighting plan in which the lighting in classrooms creates a sense of home.

"It's not an everyday project," lighting consultant Marcel Zoutendijk of Performance in Lighting admits immediately. "Normally lighting is the closing item in the budget of an elementary school, but for Het Epos both architect Search and installation company Huisman Installatietechniek immediately saw the importance of the right lighting." Thanks to the installation company, Performance in Lighting was involved in the design of the new school building at an early stage last year. "We were asked to integrate the lighting into the lines of the interior. We also consulted with the architect for this, so that we could achieve the desired results together." Work to arrive at the lighting plan took place during 2019.

Movable modules

The Epos is made up of 75 prefabricated wooden modules, which can be moved and assembled in another location if necessary. By working with these modules, the new school was built this year in just a few months. The facilities are integrated into the modules. "This has not only increased the degree of prefabrication in the factory, one and other has also led to an improved visual quality," Zoutendijk points out. In the lighting plan, the company capitalized on this disassembly and relocatability by making a clear distinction between the classrooms and corridors on the one hand and the atrium on the other. "For the corridors and classrooms, we chose the SL764 pendant and surface-mounted luminaires, which are already integrated into the prefabricated modules at the factory. Using our online configurator 'Light-Performeris®' we were able to see the effect of this system in the classrooms." Among other things, this led to the decision to provide a 'feeling of home' in the classrooms. "We do this by choosing lighting with a color temperature of 3,000 Kelvin; a warm color. In addition, we give teachers the option of dimming the lighting for the digital whiteboard itself, so that all the text on the digital whiteboard is easily readable for the students."

Central function

The circular wooden elementary school, which has been in operation since June 2020, includes, in addition to classrooms, a media library, a large kitchen, a schoolyard, a gymnasium with locker rooms and showers, and an atrium. This atrium occupies a central function in the school, including not only housing the entrance but also providing access to the upper floors. Here, the multi-functional staircase also serves as, for example, a grandstand and informal meeting space. As lighting, Performance in Lighting chose an A100 with a so-called bell reflector, which provides a slightly cooler color with a color temperature of 4,000 Kelvin. The ball-resistant lighting series Gym Led was chosen for the gymnasium. "We made all the choices in this project in close consultation with all parties involved and we are all proud of the beautiful end result," Zoutendijk said. ζ