INSIDE PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE

INSIDE PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE - Page 2

Tour groups begin in a sunroom with a bay window facing the cottage. The three window shades double as screens. They scroll down automatically on tracks, the room darkens, three Panasonic PT-D3550U 3500-lumen projectors (positioned out of sight above and behind the seats) go into action, and visitors watch a six-minute video, after which they are ushered into the cottage.

Having opted for a theatrical approach, the National Trust sought a museum lighting designer with a theatrical background, and found it in Traci Klainer, a partner in the New York-based firm Luce Group. Klainer and her team designed a programmable lighting scheme that would simulate the look and feel of the original gaslights that illuminated the cottage in Lincoln’s time, in a way that would serve the needs of preservation and modern safety standards, be simple for guides to control, provide subtle theatrical effects for their live presentations, and conserve energy.

Luce Group designed a series of matching chandeliers that hang in place of the original fixtures. Fabricated by Toombs Lighting, they appear to be fed by the original network of gas pipes, but actually get their glow from a pairing of incandescent lamps. “We used an MR-11 and a quartz lamp to get the effect,” says Klainer. “In a gas lamp, you’d have just one flame coming out from the center, but we were concerned about light levels. This combination provides a source in the globe, which is the quartz lamp, and reinforcement, which is the MR-11. We didn’t want to reproduce the flicker, but we did want the soft feel and the appropriate color temperature.”

The network of chandeliers is supplemented by two table-lamp fixtures, antique gas lamps that were wired and connected to the lighting system, and two recessed ceiling lights that provide effects on the first and second floors. Luce Group specified the Pharos control system, provided by ETC. “It helps bring the idea of theatrical cueing into the world of architectural lighting,” Klainer explains, “and it works with the AV system. The Pharos knows the day and the time, and can be seasonally programmed so that, for instance, during the summer, you might take the light levels down a bit. For the period look, we needed to use incandescent fixtures, but the system is set up so that the tour guide can dim the lights remotely when leaving a room, which saves energy. For safety reasons, it is never completely dark.”

Under contract to the AV system installer Avitecture, Akt3, which reps ETC in the Mid-Atlantic region, provided the lighting installation and control package, including programming. There are three ETC dimmer racks and the Pharos control unit. Akt3’s Greg Orth, the systems integrator and Pharos programmer, used RS232 serial communication protocol to program the interface between the Pharos and the AV system.

“You won't dim in the museum world usually,” says Klainer. “It's very unusual, because the lights, when dimmed, become more amber and change the color of the art. But here, we wanted to dim, because the quality of light was more theatrical, not your typical museum choice. The ETC Sensor rack is a totally theatrical rig, and perfect for the job.”

Electrosonic provided the design of the AV system and the AMX control system for the cottage. The lead designer for Electrosonic was Jane Hall. In the cottage, the AV gear includes two Panasonic projectors, an Alcorn McBride four-channel digital video binloop, an AMX NXD-CV5 video touch panel, three Alcorn- McBride audio players, a Link Systems EF3116 16-port Ethernet switch, two Panasonic SP65P7W-K 65" stereo loudspeakers, nine JBL Control 25-WH loudspeakers, a JBL Control 322C ceiling unit, a JBL Control 312CS in-ceiling subwoofer, and one QSC CX-902 plus four QSC CX-702 power amps.