Photos: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charles Ray: Figure Ground: Bright light invites, energizes, and opens space.
Lighting in a museum is more than illumination—it is a form of storytelling; it directs the viewer’s gaze, sets the mood, and guides perception. Proper lighting design not only elevates visual appeal but also preserves delicate works and steers visitors through an immersive, eye-opening experience. A museum is a time capsule, but it is not static. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), specifically, is a collage of 21 buildings puzzled together over the course of 140 years, which has expanded and contracted space to protect and display countless human-made objects that hold stories from across Earth, throughout time. Lighting must be adaptive, equally focused and flexible to illuminate, protect, and inspire an experience or discovery.
Museums are in motion, with labyrinths of galleries constantly being altered and rearranged. The stories, objects, and walls move with each generation longing to build upon or improve the narrative on display. Lighting is ephemeral—fleeting energy, easily extinguished—yet it has the power to transform space entirely. Museum lighting design is at the intersection of architectural lighting and theatrical lighting.
Lighting design is a craft that balances aesthetics, function, and conservation. The viewer is invited to enter and explore the space and the objects it holds. Therefore, lighting is positioned in one of two locations: above or within. From above, lighting infrastructure ideally comes in the form of a flexible track layout. Tracks running in a regular parallel orientation are preferred to maximize focus angles. Starting with a tight beam angle is beneficial. Lensing is a strategy to manipulate the beam shape and spread. From within, lighting should be integrated with the built environment, the decks, the casework, or the architectural elements. In most instances, these sources should not be visible, rather indirect, shielded, or diffused.
Museum illumination typically employs three key layers from above or within, including ambient, accent, and task lighting. Ambient lighting is for general illumination, safety, and wayfinding. It is used to unify, even, or flatten. Hierarchy can be lost if ambient lighting strategies are employed alone. Accent lighting highlights specific objects, details, and forms; it can direct the eye or create drama. Task lighting is employed for reading labels or interpretive content, writing, drawing, or transactional exchange. The most successful light is layered. Layering these techniques throughout in the forms of spotlights, wall washes, and indirect sources adds depth and dimension to both the object and the experience. Lighting is a tool to lead, shape, inform, and reveal.
The museum experience is both momentous and momentary. Together the museum and its lighting are ever changing. Good lighting can be taken for granted, but poor lighting is difficult to tolerate. Good lighting is as easy to anticipate as it is to ignore, but great lighting sings, it stops you in your tracks. Lighting can draw the viewer in to study details as well as push the viewer back to gaze in awe. Bright light invites, energizes, and opens space, while dim light calms, quiets, and creates intimacy. Spotlighting adds drama and focus, making shadows and contrast inherent—evoking mystery and depth. While spot lighting can add drama, it can also be layered on top of a wash layer to subtlety accent or render form, color, inscription, or other details.
A major challenge in exhibition lighting is balancing display with conservation. Many objects—particularly textiles, paper, and organic materials—are sensitive to light, and overexposure can cause irreversible fading. In addition, working closely with curatorial and conservation departments to limit light levels on sensitive works is essential, and exposure can be managed with scheduled lighting controls or by rotating objects throughout the course of an installation. It helps to replace the object with a similar object in scale, subject, and finish to limit further impact to the display. Lighting-related conservation concerns are largely being eliminated with the advancement of LED technology.
LED has been the leading light source in the industry for at least a decade. It is efficient, produces minimal heat, has eliminated ultraviolet radiation, and demonstrates superior color-rendering technology. The intensity and brightness of LEDs should be managed with the use of dimming controls. In a museum setting, it is useful to have both zoned controls to unify and make sweeping changes, as well as onboard dimming control for more specific and incremental control.
Before Yesterday I Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room: From within, lighting should be integrated with the built environment, decks, casework, or architectural elements.
CCT can play a role in the mood of an exhibition, and it may also unify a space or series of spaces, where there are already many unique and competing physical and visual conditions. Selecting a color temperature to establish and standardize a baseline white light is a necessary unifying element.
Lighting design at The Met looks a little different for each project type. Permanent galleries require much attention to fine-tune adjustments to respond to small scale changes in the gallery—the cause of displays being rotated are typically due to conservation purposes, incoming or outgoing loans, or to accommodate newly acquired objects. These adjustments are often executed with a basic focus and brightness adjustments, using existing infrastructure and equipment. Sometimes lamp replacements are necessary or accessories need to be swapped out to modify the beam. In many cases, permanent gallery changes can be completed in a single day if well planned.
Gallery reinstallation projects, on the other hand, require a longer lead time—often months or years of planning and design are dedicated prior to execution. Reinstallation projects frequently require construction—new casework and infrastructure upgrades. The existing ceiling track layout is studied, and upgrades are considered and proposed. Often, internal lighting is incorporated into new casework.
For special exhibitions, this process can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years depending on scale and complexity. These shows are commonly high profile, can be loan heavy, and are temporary in nature. Bespoke design is encouraged to make the exhibition stand out from the permanent collection. The main source of illumination is often from the existing flexible ceiling track layout. Temporary casework can be lit from above or within via internal case lighting.
The most complex and longest lead-time endeavors are capital improvement projects. These are either total renovations or new construction and typically have an external design team with whom the in-house design team consult in the museum’s interest. New systems are proposed that meet the museum’s guidelines to either renew or add new gallery and back of house space to the museum footprint.
Lygia Pape: A Multitude of Forms: A main source of lighting is often from an existing flexible ceiling track layout.
Designing light for museum projects must respond to movement—redirecting and illuminating an expanding story. Those telling the story must find a way to be intentional, block out the noise, and prioritize. Knowing when to work with what you have inherited and when to advocate for improvement is critical to growth and discovery, for the individual and the institution.
THE AUTHOR | Amy Nelson, Member IES, LEED Associate, is the design manager of Lighting Design at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.