On the eve of North America's largest lighting show, Lightfair International, GE presented its prestigious 2010 GE Edison Award to Alexander Rotsch and Andreas Schulz of Licht Kunst Licht AG, a lighting design firm in Bonn, Germany. The pair was honored during a presentation in Philadelphia on May 16, 2011, for lighting the ThyssenKrupp Quarter in Essen, Germany, a global materials and technology group. They were presented with a personalized Steuben crystal award.
This was the firm's second consecutive Edison Award win. Schulz and Rotsch also were awarded the 2009 Edison Award for their lighting design of the EnBW City in Stuttgard, Germany, the new headquarters of EnBW, the third largest supplier of power, gas and water in Germany.
The corporate offices of ThyssenKrupp feature modern architecture brought to life by a progressive lighting plan. "This is an amazing, large project with a stunning, harmonious and elegant result, beautiful inside and out," judges commented. "This is an exquisite manifestation of engineering expressed in building form, materials and lighting...the details and integrations are exceptional."
Rather than floodlighting the buildings from the outside, the interior lighting for the buildings defines the architecture. In the 11-story atrium, GE 35-watt and 70-watt ConstantColor CMH G12 4200 K lamps provide crisp directional illumination on the ground level. The other lighting layers include recessed wallwashers with GE 39-watt T5 4000 K lamps and linear LEDs integrated into the handrails of the atrium bridges.
Dining areas feature combinations of ceramic metal halide wallwashing, decorative halogen pendants and T5 fluorescent coves. In the executive dining area, custom circular pendants with GE 35-watt halogen lamps provide direct lighting on the dining tables, as well as indirect lighting. In the large upper level foyer area, daylight is supplemented with 35-watt CMH G12 4200 K lamps. In the large 1000-seat conference room, GE 24-watt T5 4000 K fluorescent lighting and halogen downlights, on separate dimming circuits, provide flexible lighting schemes for a broad range of activities.