GSA
Courtroom Lighting Criteria Evaluation
Task 1 Report
5
Courtrooms
A discussion of the survey findings for each courtroom is provided below.
New York, New York (Moynihan)
5.1
5.1.1
Lighting Scheme
The lighting scheme for the district courtroom in the Moynihan courthouse consists of
indirect bowl pendants supplemented by tungsten-halogen downlights. Images of the
typical district courtroom are below.
The indirect bowl fixtures produce an indirect glow on the ceiling, and the downlights
provide supplemental directional light on the task surfaces in the courtroom. While there
are more downlights at the front of the courtroom above the bench, most of the downlights
are distributed evenly throughout the ceiling and not aimed or grouped for particular task
areas.
5.1.2
Lighting Control Scheme
The lighting control in this courtroom is provided by a scene-set dimming system. Pre-set
scenes are programmed into the control system, which can be selected by a controller at
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5.1.3
Daylight
Access to daylight is provided in these courtrooms by vertical windows. Of particular note
in this courthouse is that while light-reducing shades are provided, no blackout shades are
provided. In the courtroom shown in the photo below, ornamental drapes are pinned
together to block direct sunlight that occasionally penetrates the windows.
Since no blackout shades are provided, this makeshift solution reduces the amount of
daylight in the courtroom and detracts from the architectural design. This illustrates the
challenges that incorporating daylight into a courtroom presents, but could have been
simply solved by adding a layer of blackout shades in the design.
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Issue March 1, 2006
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