Location background
Situated in north Oxford, Summer Fields is a day and boarding preparatory school for boys aged between eight and 13. It has more than 240 pupils.
Building on its reputation for the excellence of its education and facilities, a new, two-storey pavilion was opened on the 70-acre site. In addition to a large function room on the first floor, the pavilion also incorporates offices and a kitchen, as well as storage and changing areas.
Client brief
Summer Fields required a dynamic lighting scheme which took account of the architecture and the multi-use nature of the pavilion and became a prominent feature in key areas of the building. The school also needed the scheme to fall within its budget for the project, whilst still offering a highly efficient lighting installation.
Phi’s solution
Working with contractor M&S Electrical, Phi developed a lighting plan which focused its impact on the function room and the main entrance.
Key to the effect was to combine Phi’s discreet Cove LED fitting and a simple-to-use hand-held controller to cast eye-catching, multi-coloured lighting throughout the high ceiling voids.
Hidden on ledges above lower ceiling strips, the Cove technology produces a dramatic colour wash effect throughout each of the four ceiling voids.
Dividing, lower-level ceiling strips feature Phi’s linear Stria LED fittings which are recessed to provide a clean, continuous ribbon of white light – this not only offers a contemporary effect in its own right but provides a dramatic contrast when coloured lighting is used above.
Elsewhere in the function room, lower-level direct lighting is supplied by a series of single, wall-mounted Stria luminaires, whilst the entrance to the hall from the atrium is marked by a row of Apollo downlights.
Use of the highly-versatile Stria fitting continues in the ground floor corridors and changing areas, where it is both ceiling and wall mounted, while high-output Quo downlights are installed in the boot room and wet rooms along with smaller Squareled, Apollo LED and Vida downlights.
Elsewhere, our recessed, modular Array II LED luminaire is used in the matron’s office and our IP65-rated Lucid LED is used in the kitchen area.
Phi also provided exterior lighting for the pavilion with Volk up-down lighters mounted on walls at ground floor level and along the first floor balcony while our Idroic wall-mounted light provides additional illumination for the external staircase.
Electrical contractor Mark Simpson said: “The school wanted to create the wow factor and Phi’s lighting enabled us to do just that without exceeding the budget.
“Lighting for the function room is multi-functional and is easy for anyone to operate. The effect is not only dramatic from the inside but also when viewed from the outside. The school is delighted with the whole lighting scheme.”
