Greenlight Bookstore Renovation Blog: Week 6

This is the sixth installment of a weekly blog hosted at Brownstoner chronicling the design and construction of Greenlight Bookstore at 686 Fulton Street in Fort Greene. Written by project architect Frederick Tang of deFT Projects.

This week, we’re mixing up the format by doing a short Q&A with our lighting designer, Peiheng Tsai of PHT Lighting.

Tell us about the general lighting strategy for Greenlight.

The lighting concept was to create various lighting fields that define smaller areas within Greenlight Bookstore’s tall and open space. Some fields are intended to be less visible while others draw people’s attention. A group of suspended globes of varying sizes and heights define the area between the entrance and the cash register. The walls of the air shaft are covered with feature displays that are illuminated by a series of ceiling recessed spotlights. A continuous fluorescent cove is hidden above the perimeter bookshelves to provide ambient lighting. And randomly placed small aperture ceiling recessed downlights gives focus to the book display. Finally, the children’s area in In the back area of the store is defined by another set of suspended globes, thematically linking this area to the front entrance.

What are some important things to keep in mind when doing a commercial project?

Commercial projects often have mixed user groups and it is important to meet all the needs to the different users while still maintaining a uniform strategy. In this case, we decided to use the globe pendants as a basic vocabulary to bring visual interest to the entrance, as well as to establish a lower zone from the high ceiling for the children’s section where most readers would be sitting on the floor.

Are there specific lighting strategies for retail environments? How do you use lighting to draw people in or make it more comfortable for them to stay?

There is no strict formula for retail environments since the program, target users, and atmosphere can vary drastically from one to another. For example, in a high-end designer store, the merchandise is often dramatically called out with specific interior decor and lighting versus in a bookstore where the books usually cover all of the wall surfaces and lighting is less specific except in the designated display area. Even in spaces with the same type of functions, the design strategy can vary dramatically. For example, a bookstore like Barnes and Noble uses high-bay industrial-looking fixtures to provide efficient illumination and create a large warehouse image. Greenlight is more a neighborhood bookstore, so we’re using smaller fixtures to remind people that this is an extension of their living room or reading room.

When done well, lighting design is so integrated with the architectural space, it doesn’t draw attention to itself—like a movie soundtrack: when it’s good, you almost don’t notice it.