LED Downlighting for the Minnesota State Capitol Building
Rambusch retrofitted the existing downlights with LED technology while maintaining the valuable decorative ceiling.
Design Assist — Rambusch streamlined fixture removal and installation while reducing the number of components for re-creation, thereby controlling the budget. As an integral part of the full design team, Rambusch helped establish lighting levels, quality metrics, and five grades of finish and fineness to define “Capitol Quality” – all confirmed via on-site mockups.
This project included full-scale removal, documentation, refurbishment, and re-creation of the Capitol’s 1,400 interior lighting fixtures (400 restorations; 1,000 replications and new designs). Rambusch innovatively “harvested” design elements (finials, shields, trims, etc.) for new fluorescent luminaires from existing fixtures to blend with new, complementary designs. Molds of the original elements maximized the level of detail in the ornamentation.
New cast brass parts were finished to match the restored originals. Casting from original parts and not requiring new molds significantly reduced expenses and assured historical integrity and continuity.
Luminaires were tiered into five groups of decreasing cost and complexity to further organize the design-assist, allowing modifications to be performed before final installations. Fixture inventories, field condition surveys, methods of analysis, finishing techniques, and full-size drawings of each lighting fixture have been archived for future generations.
