Light Bureau Swings Into Action at The Richmond Golf Club

Online, September 23, 2010 (Newswire.com) - This important historic Grade I Listed Georgian mansion is situated in Richmond, Surrey and is one of the finest cases of English Palladian architecture in the Italian style. The Cube Room is among Britain's best examples of a perfect cube volume and is now the club's dining room. The fine plasterwork is by Italian craftsmen Bagatti & Artori and the fireplace is by Flemish sculpture Jan-Michiel Rysbrack.

Light Bureau were commissioned to provide architectural lighting design to the Cube Room and the mixed and members bars. The Cube Room has been dramatically illuminated by concealed light sources at low level, providing intimacy for the diners. Plasterwork and artefacts are sensitively picked out by precise accent sources. In the bar areas, simple wall lights have been added to create a relaxed feel and new pendants were added to improve the ambience. Refurbishment and re-siting of the existing chandeliers was also carried out.

Light Bureau were also called upon to make substantial improvements to the external illumination of the Grade 1 listed building. The façade is imposing and dominates the half mile approach along the club's driveway so it was very important that the mansion be illuminated to provide the best vista.

The former lighting scheme consisted of a handful of 400W metal halide floodlights to wash the façade but these reduced the appearance to 2-dimensions. Light intrusion and glare to users was also extreme.

Light Bureau's new lighting design solution comprises small low power sources mounted on the façade to bring out key architectural features such as the columns and stone balustrade. A gentle wash of light is achieved using ground recessed uplights and asymmetric linear washlights located in the building lightwell and landscaped area. These are close enough to the façade to avoid light trespass into the interior and lamped with warm white fluorescent sources to provide a soft, convivial light. Light Bureau designed custom accent light fixtures for placing on the column bases and to the elevation next to the entrance doors to create the all-important 3-dimensional emphasis missing previously. These utilize warm white LED's, each with a 3x1 Watt module. At the rear of the building, the portico is uplit using surface mounted bespoke cylindrical uplights using the same LED module as the front elevation.

At the top of the building, Light Bureau placed linear LED tubes on the pediment to uplight the stone balustrade, subtly finishing off the building.
As the building is Grade I listed, all fixings and cabling had to be discrete and non-intrusive. Light Bureau have extensive experience with historic buildings and have researched special adhesives which provide robust fixing but can be removed at a later stage without damage to the building fabric. All building mounted luminaires and cabling were thus attached.

The Richmond Golf Club's General Manager, John Maguire comments: "the mansion building is such a major part of the club's identity it was crying out for a top quality lighting scheme to reflect its importance to the members and to do justice to the parkland setting; we have received countless positive comments from members and guests since the lighting was finished and we are proud of how the building now looks".

Client: The Richmond Golf Club
Main Supplier bespoke exterior luminaires: Mike Stoane Lighting
Façade uplighting: iGuzzini
Interior wall lights and pendants: CTO Lighting
Floor recessed uplights: Cube
Floor standing uplights: Targetti Poulsen