Tec Inc. completed engineering and lighting design services for the new construction of the Rice Branch. The project required electrical engineering, lighting design, and technology design. This project is the first free-standing LEED Silver Certified library in Ohio. The lighting system includes multiple linear runs of suspended direct/indirect luminaires with DALI ballasts. DALI was specified for its ability to separate power from control using the T5HO lamping (specified to meet the IESNA recommended practice footcandle levels for library and stack illumination).

With the area’s mix of stacks, circulation and seating, multiple light levels for the differing tasks was required without adding additional circuits to the space for separate control. Existing branch circuit wiring was used without additional feeds. Photocells were integrated into a small sample of individual luminaires to take advantage of the daylight contribution from the skylights. Each luminaire was then assigned a photocell to read from either a stack photocell or a seating area photocell with a similar orientation for consistent light levels based on the time of day and year.

An advantage of this system, allows the library to have nightlights without the need for additional wiring. The system is programmable to allow several luminaires designated as nightlights to dim to a specific nightlight percentage and bypass the “All Off” setting. Tec also provided the mechanical system commissioning for LEED Certification.