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Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium

  • Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium
  • Lamp efficacy

    Lamp efficacy

    Ensuring the lamp efficiently converts electricity into light (lm/W).

  • Ballast classification

    Ballast classification

    Controlling the electricity supply to the lamp (Energy Efficiency Index).

  • Luminaire distribution

    Luminaire distribution

    Controlling light emission using optics which bend and shape the light to the correct location.

  • System efficacy

    System efficacy

    Combining optical and thermal control within the luminaire (luminaire lm/W).

  • Presence/absence detection

    Presence/absence detection

    Presence: Lights automatically turn on/off with movement. Absence: Lights automatically turn off and must be manually switched on.

  • Daylight detection

    Daylight detection

    Artificial lighting which responds to the natural light conditions.

  • Constant illuminance

    Constant illuminance

    A function designed to produce correct light levels for the duration of the maintenance period.

  • Task-scene setting

    Task-scene setting

    Allowing the user to set scenes and adapt the lighting to different tasks.

  • Timed off

    Timed off

    Automatic cut-off can be installed to turn all lights off during unoccupied hours.

  • Task lighting

    Task lighting

    Lighting task areas with the correct amount of light.

  • Zoning of lighting

    Zoning of lighting

    Lighting is zoned according to area use.

  • Maintenance schedule

    Maintenance schedule

    Maintenance must be performed in response to product age, performance and environment.

  • Waste light

    Waste light

    Eliminating waste light which does not hit the intended target.

  • Reflectance

    Reflectance

    Taking advantage of light which is reflected from the surface within the space.

  • Visible smart metering

    Visible smart metering

    Results of actions can be quickly seen as increased or decreased energy use to encourage responsible energy consumption.

A temple for the art of lighting

A selection of Thorn's exciting exterior luminaires - Band, Cesar and Milo - have been used to illuminate Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten).

This remarkable 19th century temple of art is decorated with Corinthian columns and adorned by two large statues, depicting two-horse chariots. The museum itself displays a fine collection of Flemish paintings including work from Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens and Brueghel.

The architect wanted to create a hierarchy of illuminance without overlighting, whilst paying special attention to focal points such as the chariots, which serve as the museum's logo.

LED Band luminaires, many DALI controlled, are used for the base of the chariots, above the entrance doors and for backlighting the pink galleries that house the busts - each figure being lit from above by two Milo LED spotlights.

The columns and verticals are lit by Cesar projectors (35W HIT), augmented by various Contrast (35W & 70W HIT) and LED MiniPinspot spotlights. A mix of warm (3000K) and cool (4200K) colour temperature lamps are used to vary the colour appearance.

The  overall result is a sensitive scheme which has unity and beauty. At the same time electrical consumption has been halved.