Location: 12100 Glen Road, Potomac, MD
Product: NanoTex Square
Architect: Thomas Phifer and Partners
Lighting Consultant: Arup
Project Type: Museum
This large-scale NanoTex Square fixture is a perfect companion to Yellow Curve by minimalist artist Ellsworth Kelly at Glenstone’s Ellsworth Kelly at 100 exhibit. It offers diffuse light that evenly saturates the minimal space without making it feel cold or clinical. The evenness and clarity of the light also ensures the yellow of the piece looks vibrant and rich, never sickly, and gives the visitor room to contemplate and appreciate the space it both illuminates and delineates.
Glenstone is almost entirely illuminated by natural light, so for a case like this that required artificial light, it was crucial to mimic the airy evenness of light that permeates the rest of the museum. Due to the minimalism of the space and the piece, consistency was key, as any irregularities would be glaringly obvious. The rectangular shape of the fixture reflects the rectangular rooms, windows, skylights, and even water features and contributes to the feeling of tranquility and calm that permeates the space.
Like this iteration of Yellow Curve itself, this whole room, and the NanoTex light fixture, were specifically created for the exhibition.
A particular challenge was the size. The NanoTex fixture needed to be quite large — 16’ x 38.5′ to be exact — while still maintaining seamlessness. NanoTex fabrics are all capable of encompassing this size, however, so the large, uninterrupted plane of light was able to be created as envisioned in the space.
