Header: Justin Maconochie
The Fetzer Institute is a non-profit dedicated to building a spiritual foundation for a loving world that recently decided to renovate its uniquely shaped triangular administration building. The project was given to SmithGroup, with Paige Donnell as lead designer and Paul Urbanek on the team, who took on the ethos of the company to create the new headquarters.
The main goal of this renovation was to create a feeling of “lightness within” a wood-clad space that has no natural daylight. To achieve this, the team faced quite a few challenges, such as coordinating custom furniture pieces from different brands and ensuring that maintaining the space pristine would be easy later on. Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding the correct setup of lighting fixtures to better reflect daylight, something that is no small feat.
The team came up with the concept “Revealing Legacy” to create the lighting design, focusing on highlighting the warmth and texture of the chosen materials while blending concealed lighting into the architecture. While this concept allowed the team to create a welcoming and pleasant environment, it also ensured that the new headquarters would be a place that fosters inclusivity, awareness, and open dialogue.
In the conference room, the team custom-designed and fabricated edge-lit acrylic panels that diffuse the light shining through an LED source concealed above the ceiling. This creates an effect like daylight streaming through a tent-like structure, enhanced by a dynamic spiral of veiling and illuminated panels. As an ode to the institution’s history, the new headquarters also hold an exhibit space that showcases the owner’s legacy, ensuring that the new, even if bright, won’t ever outshine the past.
