LED direct view lighting bridges the gap between art and engineering at Yale University School of Engineering’s Ground Café, where a nearly 500 sq ft custom-built LED canvas sits not only as a decorative centerpiece but serves as an educational collaboration involving students and faculty members across disciplines.

LuxED, a nearly 500 sq ft custom-built LED canvas being installed at Yale University School of Engineering’s Ground Café. (All photography courtesy of Philips Color Kinetics)

Constructed in 2012, Ground Café was built to stimulate creativity, encourage partnership and inspire a sense of community at Yale. The university wished for the café to have a fresh, modern and cutting-edge design, with striking characteristics that would set it apart from any other section of the campus.

Drawing inspiration from the pioneering work of artist and lighting designer Leo Villareal, The Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science partnered with architects from Bentel & Bentel Architecture Firm and Charney Architects to build an innovative, appealing educational tool: a digital LED canvas capable of displaying custom video content created by the university’s own community.

Engineering research would be transformed into an art display through the use of the LED canvas, allowing Yale’s students and faculty to showcase original designs. Not limited to just its School of Engineering, Yale University desired for the canvas (nicknamed LuxED) to become a hub of interaction for all students at the institution, encouraging creative collaboration between the sciences and humanities.

LuxED is powered by Philips iColor Flex MX and managed with Philips Color Kinetics Video System Manger Pro.

To meet the demands of this unique design concept, Bentel & Bentel specified a Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting solution, mounting strands of iColor Flex MX over 450 sq ft (42 sq m) of the café’s wall and ceiling. Each LED node on the iColor Flex MX strands was mapped and managed with Philips Color Kinetics Video System Manger Pro, enabling streaming of the university’s custom video content to the LED canvas.

“The design concept for the café included a large, dynamic LED display from the outset,” said architects Peter Bentel and Richard Charney. “The knowledge and advice proffered by Philips Color Kinetics was invaluable to us while we were bringing this concept to the reality of the custom interactive digital canvas that is the heart of the café’s ambience.”

The lighting installation has also become a mediun for related classes, such as degital animation course.

As a result of the installation, Yale University students and faculty have demonstrated an increased interest in LED technology, forming a group to learn the basics of LED hardware and software. LuxED has also become a medium for related classes, such as Yale University’s digital animation course. Most importantly, the installation merges art, design and engineering, inviting diverse campus communities to engage in a broader, forward-thinking dialogue that engages the university at large.