Miracles Can Happen

September 2000 saw the opening of a high tech facility within the University of Edinburgh, funded by a gift from Lord Trotman, a visiting Professor at the Management School and former Chairman of the Ford Motor Company.

The Ford Gift of Support to the University's Management School was presented to support the establishment of the Management Information and Research Access Centre and Learning Environment (MIRACLE) , which acts as an electronic hub for the School and enhances and supports the learning opportunities available to staff, students and members of the business community. It forms a link with learning centres in the University's Faculties of Science and Engineering, Medicine and Education and to the major management databases worldwide through the Internet.

The faculty provides extensive resources which include; core text books for the MBA programmes; a selected number of journals; annual reports for 1000 UK companies; dissertations by past students; and electronic resources including a dedicated MIRACLE web site and DIALOG's news line database and access to appropriate services and sites.

The room floor was raised to accommodate the necessary services and, although a comparison between the room used to create this facility on a 'before and after' basis has not been possible, the completed room shows what can be acheived visually when employing an innovative design solution.

The creation of 'perceived brightness' was one of the Client's main concerns, since the room is devoid of any natural light, and Apollo Lighting provided the University's in-house Architect and Electrical Engineer with the flexible design layout. All of the lighting elements are fully dimmable and independently controlled through a push button scene setting control panel, enabling a variety of lighting presets.

The existing concrete waffle slab ceiling was retained in part, the remainder being clad with plasterboard, and the visual effect enhanced by the use of additional stepped/tiered roofline areas creating dimension and depth. This provided the vehicle for concealed fluorescent lighting, mostly in white light, but in parts, the introduction of colour, made possible using over sleaved tubes and coloured acetates. These were complemented in feature areas by recessed low voltage luminaires, supplied with sympathetically coloured borosilicate bezel glasses.

To further the aesthetic feel, recessed compact fluorescent downlighters featuring drop glasses were installed and these, along with the bespoke acid etched glass luminaires recessed into the spaces formed by the waffle slab ceiling structure, provided the primary lighting within the total area. The additional use of low voltage downlighters installed close to the perimeter walls, created the visual scalloped lighting effect, completing this functional and pleasing lighting environment.