Jon Daggett and Iluminarc Pay Homage to History at Craddock Terry Hotel

	Craddock Terry Hotel

Something is afoot at the Craddock Terry Hotel. From the large shoe over its entrance, to the free shoe shines available to every guest, flourishes at this upscale hostelry celebrate its heritage as the site of what was once one of America's largest shoe factories. Developers of the popular boutique lodging in Lynchburg, Virginia also honored its past when designing its interior, evoking its original industrial character with exposed wood beam ceilings, thick stone walls and 9' windows. Also accenting the building's industrial roots, while at the same time giving it a distinctively modern flair, is the richly colored light that washes its front columns, courtesy of Iluminarc Colorist 8Qa Panels installed by Jon Daggett of Castle Lighting.

Daggett positioned ten of the IP65-rated RGBA panels across the base of a 135' section of the three-story building to light the columns that separate its large "factory windows." Reaching up to the top story 32' above the ground, light from the Colorist 8Qa Panels sets off the original design of the early 20th century structure, creating a sense of its scale and conveying its rock-hard power.

"The Colorist Panel 8Qa was a perfect fit for this project, because of its shape, footprint, and punch," said Daggett. "We wanted a light that conveyed very rich saturated colors, given the powerful image that this building projects. The output of these fixtures is more than up to the task, and of course they're outdoor rated. We replaced some older LED units that had been lighting the outside of the building with the Iluminarc fixtures for this project, and there was no comparison."

Power was already run for the previous outdoor fixtures at the hotel, so Daggett and the Castle Lighting team integrated the Colorist panels into the existing outdoor-rated junction boxes. However, they did change the position of the outdoor units when installing the Colorist fixtures.

"The old fixtures were about 4' to 5' away from the building," said Daggett. "We repositioned the Colorist panels at a distance of 9" from the wall. Doing this allowed us to create real uplighting, rather than simply wash the building as was done in the past. Thanks to the throw distance and output of the Iluminarcs, we had no trouble making this design change."

Another advantage of the Colorist 8Qa Panels is that they make it easy to change colors on the outside of the hotel to complement seasonal themes. In fact, the Iluminarc fixtures were initially installed to wash the columns in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month.

"The colors change depending on the time of year and any special events that are taking place," said Daggett. "Currently, we use the end fixture as the master and have the other nine units follow it, so setting the color is done at the first fixture. However, we're going back to installing DMX into the building, so the hotel will be able to control things from computers in their office, or we at Castle will remote in and program for them. With this being a brick building and a historic building, finding a path to get data out without disturbing any of the architecture has taken some thought and planning."

The new DMX control functionality will not be the only change taking place at the hotel. Daggett is currently talking to the facility's management about extending LED exterior lighting over the entrance awning lighting, as well as over the show logo and hotel name.

"We are discussing tying everything together with lighting," he said. "The goal is to create a unified look that pays homage to the entire building, which is steeped in history."