THE LOUVRE Museum in Paris is now lit by Toshiba’s LED products, following a lighting ceremony on 6 December.
Louvre Director Henri Loyrette and Toshiba's President Norio Sasaki illuminated the Pyramid, the Pyramidion and Pavilion Colbert during the ceremony after a count-down.
According to Toshiba, designing the solutions to light the Louvre subject the team to a number of “culture shocks” in terms of the engineering process involved with the project.
In the first instance, the goal was not to change to a more innovative style of lighting, but rather to preserve the look of the Louvre. Where the Japanese engineering ethos tended to focus on technology, the French emphasised the purpose of the technology.
For example, the project had to be approved by both the Louvre Technical Directorate, as well as Museum Director Henri Loyrette and the Historical Monuments Committee for approval.
In the second, post-technical stage of approvals, Toshiba had to consider the configuration of the fixtures for suitably illuminating the museum, the aesthetics of the light as it fits into Parisian scenery, as well as the exterior colour and shapes of the fixtures themselves.
Toshiba had to harmonise the fixtures with the building as part of the scenery, and revised the design into a shape that made the most of contours.
The company also made the fixtures more compact, used long-life LED technology, and to save energy, installed the LED light-emitting section and the power circuit on the same board.
There was also discussion regarding the colour temperature of the LEDs. Toshiba proposed a “light bulb colour” at 2700K but the initial French preference was for a warmer colour tone. During a demonstration at the site comparing the colours, the Louvre Director and the Paris Historical Monuments Committee approved of the “light bulb colour” temperature.
To further comply with aesthetic requirements around the Louvre, the Toshiba team narrowed the scope of light to approximately 30° coverage, and installed diffusion filters in front of the diodes to eliminate the sense of the dotted effect that comes from using multiple LEDs in a light source.
Toshiba constructed numerous prototypes during the development process, and experimented with these to match the needs of the Louvre and the Historical Monuments Committee.
The LEDs have very low light intensity attenuation over the years, and consume around one quarter the power of Xenon tubes.
The lights that illuminate the Pyramid have also been converted to LED. They have been designed to a specification that meets the IP65 rating for dust and water protection.
Designing LEDs for the Louvre: aesthetics and cultural considerations Electronics News
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