Engineering Design Offices and Lighting Design Demonstrations

Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers
100 West 13th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401

Lighting Design: Gregory C. Hansen, LC, Balzhiser and Hubbard

Architect: gLASs Architectural (exterior), McKenzie Commercial (interior)

Photographer: Randal Smith, LDL for all photos except the first image - exterior view, which was from the Balzhiser & Hubbard newsletter.

Notable Lighting:
After half a century of loving use by the citizens of Eugene, the old library was ready for retirement. But the engineers working on the new library had big plans for the old one. They showed it the respect and care it deserved, lovingly turning the old building filled with books into a new high-tech design center. Engineers from Balzhiser & Hubbard now have a spacious home that inspires them and does justice to the history of the old library.

More visible work was done to the interior of the old library than the exterior. The new interior is comfortable and inviting, filled with light. There are areas dedicated to each of the engineering fields practiced by the firm - civil, mechanical and electrical. A mix of open and closed offices provide attractive and comfortable settings for the creation of good design. Gregory C. Hansen LC, Balzhiser & Hubbard's primary lighting designer, used the opportunity to create demonstration spaces to educate clients on the many lighting options available.

The lighting shown includes: linear indirect/direct fluorescent; cove lighting; wall slot; track; sconces; decorative pendants; cold cathode; and LED.

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Visit Lighting Award Winners

1. Exterior - This was previously the old Eugene, public library. The building was painstakingly refurbished, reinforced and updated. Just a couple of blocks from the new library, it provides testimony to the power of a well-designed renovation.

2. Lobby -Entry to the new offices of one of the largest engineering firms in the Pacific Northwest. The whimsical design of this luminaire hearkens to the technologies used by the engineers in their designs..

3. Open Offices -These 'clouds' are used in the work areas of each of the engineering disciplines. The linear direct/indirect fluorescent pendants provide very uniform, low glare lighting for the engineers as they perform exacting tasks.

4. Copy Room -Functional spaces are inviting and attractive while performing some of the necessary yet less intellectually formidable tasks of modern office life. Who would have imagined that collating and binding could be pleasant?

5. Closed Offices -different luminaires are used to demonstrate a range of lighting concepts. Examples of different distributions, lamps and ballasts, light levels and color qualities are shown.

6. Closed Offices -Wall mounted indirect lighting is shown as well as suspended luminaires.

7. Conference Room - Full dimming with programmed scenes. Colored cold cathode is shown for a sense of theater and drama. The intensity of the blue from the cold cathode made this room a big hit during the Open House.

8. Common Areas -Coves, clouds and other ways of lighting ceilings and walls are shown.

9. Library -The extensive collection of technical product materials is illuminated with high quality luminaires and lamps.

10. Storage and Utility Spaces -Less glamorous areas in windowless basement areas are still bright, cheerful and inviting.

11. Our Hero -The ever intrepid lighting designer Gregory C. Hansen LC on a typical day at the job site. Seriously, this was at the Balzhiser & Hubbard Open House.