Headquartered in Batesville, Indiana and a subsidiary of Hillenbrand Industries, the Batesville Casket Company is a leading provider of quality metal and hardwood burial caskets, cremation urns and related support services. The company was established in 1906, when John A. Hillenbrand purchased a small-town coffin manufacturing business that had been in operation since 1884.
When architect Charley Bellinger and designer Ryan Bell of Architectural Alliance, Inc. and lighting and interior designer Gerard Lehner, IIDA of Lehner Designs began a collaboration to renovate Batesville Casket Company’s 20,000-sq.ft. Customer Business Center (CBC), they wanted to create a space that would communicate as well as function.
“Batesville Casket Company is a very traditional company and wanted to come across to customers through this project as very cutting-edge and modern,” says Lehner. “It was a brand new image for a very established company.”
The CBC is used to show funeral home customers the company’s full range of options in caskets, urns and other services. Lehner said Batesville Casket Company wanted to update the CBC into a true showroom experience that would “wow” customers and show them leading technology, a wide range of products, and established and new selling and merchandising methods—all within a modern, flexible open showroom space.
“The goal of this project was to provide an environment that was conducive to the most current thinking in showroom experience,” says Bellinger.
The design team understood that lighting would be an essential component of the transformation. First, it would have to aesthetically match the curvilinear shapes created within the exposed ceiling while being simple and clean enough to blend into the architecture. Second, it had to provide precision spotlighting and accent lighting to support sales by highlighting key merchandise, and be easily movable to accommodate changing displays. Finally, it had to help communicate the desired brand image of cutting-edge technology.
To accomplish these lighting goals, the design team recognized a number of challenges. “The desire was to create an exposed ceiling concept in as much of the showroom as possible, but we were stuck with the problem of a large existing mechanical trunk that ran the perimeter of the space, which would be too costly to move,” says Lehner. “Many other issues forced us to keep ceiling heights in certain areas low and other areas higher. In the end, the open ceiling concept formed a curvilinear ‘lake’ within the boundaries of the perimeter mechanical trunk line.” From the trunk line out, supporting functions such as conference rooms, storage spaces, a café, a theater, and additional showcase rooms were located.
“We recommended an open structure approach that would be ‘blacked out’ above 10 feet and a ceiling treatment that incorporated ‘clouds’ with a lighting plan that would draw the attention to the exhibits,” adds Bellinger. “In the end, it is a theatrical approach that was made successful by the cooperative effort of all involved.” The design team’s vision for articulating the visual ceiling was realized through USG’s Compasso, which was used to create the curved ceiling perimeter and circular rings above the showroom displays.
Once the strategy became set, the lighting choices focused on sourcing a flexible track system that would be mounted on the Compasso circles in a manner that would be acceptable to customers.
“The main purpose of the lighting is retail or showcase specific,” says Lehner. This drove interest in using track lighting. The challenge would be finding a lighting system that could curve and flow with the design. “The track lighting system needed to be flexible, bendable and form to the large radiuses of the rings. The light sources also needed to be easily moved from location to location as displays changed.” An additional requirement presented by the owner was that the track lighting system would have to be line-voltage but able to accommodate low-voltage for accent lighting. This would be another challenge, as the majority of flexible track systems support only low-voltage applications. Line-voltage flexible track systems are available that can support low-voltage fixtures, however the fixtures must utilize integral step-down transformers. These transformers can detract from the overall look of the track layout design.
The design team selected Cooper Lighting’s Halo Architectural Track System—both flexible/bendable and linear systems—with Stasis lampholders as the solution that would satisfy all of their design criteria.
The Halo Architectural Flexible Track System is the first track lighting system to offer multi-voltage and multi-circuit capabilities. The flexible track can use either 12V or 120V, or a combination of both, simultaneously, creating three systems in one to satisfy more applications. In addition, all lampholders for the Architectural Flexible Track system offer a unique track adapter design where no parts have to be removed from the fixture in order to be installed onto the track.
The Stasis family of lampholders features die-cast bodies with elegant, free-flowing lines. Tilt and rotation are achieved with double-articulation supports that also conceal wiring and hinges. Stasis is ideally suited for applications where performance is required from a discrete source of light.
“Halo’s Stasis lampholders gave a very clean and simple look to the design and helped illuminate the displays with the desired amounts of light needed to teach and educate the customers, spotlight product, and avoid glare on LCD monitors and other A/V components,” says Lehner. “I was also very pleased with the clean-cut fit between the Halo flexible track system and the USG Compasso curvilinear trim. The attachments of the flexible track system underneath the Compasso rings looked like they were meant for each other.”
In the CBC application, incandescent PAR20 lamps were used throughout the design, providing an even spotlight distribution on the displays. Meanwhile, recessed fluorescent indirect fixtures, compact fluorescent downlights and wall washers, pendant and ceiling-mounted fixtures were used to light non-exhibit areas such as the conference rooms, storage rooms and other ancillary spaces.
“We received very positive feedback from the technicians and the owner regarding the design of the product and the way it installed,” says Bellinger. “One of the comments we heard most often was the ease of installation and the flexibility.”
During installation, Tracy Baker, the owner’s representative, and Forster Electrical Services, the electrical contractor, refined the concept by making improvements to how the lighting interfaced with the ceiling system. The contractor received extensive praise from the design team for simplifying the attachment method of the track stem to tie into a simple L bracket attached to the Compasso trim for a seamless appearance.
“The function of the space is just what we hoped for and the customer is amazed at the ease of moving the track fixtures around,” says Lehner.
“What we are most proud of is the reaction we are getting from our client and what they are hearing from the people that visit the showroom,” says Bellinger. “It has been very well received and the lighting is a big part of that.”
PROJECT CREDITS
Owner: Batesville Casket Company Customer Business Center, Batesville, IN
Lighting Design/Interior Design: Gerard Lehner, IIDA, Lehner Designs
Architecture: Charley Bellinger and Ryan Bell, Architectural Alliance, Inc.
Electrical Contractor: Tom A. Forster and Mason Simmons, Forster Electrical Services, Inc.
Manufacturer: Halo, a division of Cooper Lighting
Manufacturer Representative: Melinda Dykstra, Specified Lighting Design
