ASID NY METRO CHAPTER

Design Specialty Award, presented to a Designer or Industry Partner member who has risen to the top of a particular specialty Charles Pavarini III, Allied ASID

The project is a residential re-development project completed by Pavarini Design in downtown Kansas City, MO in 2014. The submission was for the atrium lighting design conceived by Charles Pavarini III and developed in tandem with Lighting Designer Lana Lenar of zeroLUX Lighting. Given that the 8-story atrium has a glass roof which would not support a Chandelier, Charles created a major statement with his ‘Falling Sticks’ concept he envisioned. In order to sharply contrast the turn of-the-century structure, the ‘Falling Sticks’ custom-made light sculpture spans the balconies on aircraft Cable to provide consistent light quality throughout the space. Fitted with custom LED assemblies, the lighted cylinders are designed to last close to 50,000 hrs, preventing the need for service/replacement; although such tasks are simple to accomplish if needed.

What was once a very dark atrium at night has become a major design statement and ‘attention-grabber’. The space was always a problem to light, as exemplified by the former balcony up-lighting which was very glaring when looking down from the railings. The ‘Falling Sticks ‘solved that problem while creating a surrealistic cascade as if the sticks have penetrated the building and are suspended in movement. The sculpture with its LED efficiency also makes for a very safely-lit space all hours of the night, and it consumes an infinitesimal amount of electricity thus saving a significant amount of energy. With its simple design of plastic cylinders and steel cables, the financial investment too was quite modest.