Bowen House was completed in 2019 and houses several tenants including the NZ Defence Force.
Our experience with lightboxes has told us that there are two key methods of lighting them using LED strip – back-lighting, which is done by running a series of LED strips in parallel at regular centres with light directed towards the diffuser. The second method, as used in this case study is achieved by lighting the perimeter of the light box with the light source orientated perpendicular to the diffuser.
This method floods the inside of the light box and relys, in part, on reflectance from the backing panel inside the box. For best results, the backing board should be white. Darker coloured back panels will create a brighter halo around the perimeter and a duller area towards the centre.
Perimeter lighting works well with small or narrow light boxes such as the ones at NZDF.
An onsite trial proved the theory prior to all of the boxes being fitted. Simple Simon 7 profiles were used with SPEC-14.4-40-140 LED strip which produces 1180lm per metre from 14W per metre. The 4000K colour temperature was selected to offer a neutral light colour through the lightbox imagery.
