Guth Awards
2001 IIDA Awards from the
Puget Sound Section of the IESNA

Auburn Library
Auburn, Washington

Lighting Designer(s)
Mary Claire Frazier IALD LC, Candela Lighting Design

Project Owner
King County Library System

Photography
Art Grice

Exterior from Street
This branch library, located on a busy suburban street, competes with fast food restaurants for notice. The substantial street sign uses fluorescent light reflected off a blue center panel to backlight cutout lettering.

Exterior Side View
The architectural form consists of a series of curved roof elements with high clerestories.

Front Entry
Point-source CFL sconces reflect off the metal entry canopy to attract attention.

Lobby
The Lobby has display niches on each side with integral LV track. A multi-lamp PAR30 fixture is wall-mounted above the exterior door to illuminate the curved wood ceiling.

Collections
That ceiling continues inside the library to conceal mechanical equipment and provide a central spine. Asymmetric open trusses support the curved roof. Mechanical ducts span the length of the Reading Room, piercing the trusses. Dual-duty fluorescent pendants with asymmetric uplight and symmetric downlight hug each side of the ducts, enhancing the ceiling form and organizing the view while providing the 50 footcandles required for ambient light. This proved to be a clean, cost-effective solution.

In order to leave the central curved wood ceiling spine free of fixtures, track mounted ceramic metal halide accent lights, with louvers for glare control, are mounted at the end of each pair of pendants.

Collections Corner
Stack lights, integrated into the siesmic stack supports, light the vertical surface. Care was taken to coordinate locations of tall stacks with pendants so that the stack lights won't have to be dismantled to maintain the pendants.

Collections Art Wall
Track-mounted PAR38HIR fixtures provide soft, even light for artwork as requested by the artist.

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