Feature By Michele Zimmerman
Arcade One-Up
After the Dayton Arcade, a block of nine interconnected buildings closed in 1990, the once-bustling early 20th-century commercial site fell into disrepair, standing dark and vacant on the city streets. Nearly two decades later, a multiphase renovation plan was launched by Dayton Arcade Partners, and led by Cross Street Partners, Model Group, and McCormack Baron Salazar, to restore the structure and inspire city redevelopment. Through an existing relationship, lighting design studio 37 Volts was introduced to the project.
The first renovation phase, beginning in 2019 and implemented in 2021, resulted in the installation of only static-white light despite the conception of color-changing illumination in the project plan, due to budgetary constraints. However, as the success of the Arcade grew, sponsorship by AES Ohio allowed for the addition of dynamic, color-changing façade lighting; revisited design efforts commenced in 2023, and installation was completed in 2024—with the project earning an IES Award of Merit in 2025. Original static-white light fixtures from the start of the first phase were salvaged and used as lighting along the project’s Third Street façade.
The landmark structure’s rebirth has resulted in more than just a brighter building façade, it has helped “Gem City” return to its original fervor. “The Arcade’s redevelopment has acted as a keystone investment, encouraging additional public and private development throughout the surrounding district,” said 37 Volts President and Principal Designer Amy Laughead-Riese. “The project created construction jobs, permanent employment opportunities, and new business openings, while also increasing downtown foot traffic. By reintroducing retail, restaurants, office space, hotel rooms, and housing, the Arcade helped stabilize and diversify Dayton’s urban core, making it more attractive to investors, entrepreneurs, and residents.” The renovation even inspired new color-changing lighting along the city’s Main Street to coincide with the 30th Anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an event held in May 2025. And the update efforts haven’t stopped there—the Private George Washington Fair Monument and Plaza, a historic space dedicated to the Union soldiers of the Civil War, and the Wright Flyer III sculpture, honoring the Wright brothers’ “flying machines” by artist Larry Godwin, have also secured fresh color-changing lights.
In addition to providing the Dayton Arcade’s early-1900s architecture with an aesthetic fit for the 21st century, the design team had a responsibility to ensure that illumination would minimize disturbance to nearby neighbors. Guided by the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code, the design team covered all its bases: “As part of the initial design concept, there was concern about adding lighting that would be disruptive to the residents in apartments within the upper floors of the buildings,” noted Laughead-Riese. “To mitigate those concerns, SSL Lighting’s Colorline Lazer Wet RGBW [fixtures] were selected, as they have inherent glare control, as well as careful placement of lights to avoid glare and reflection into apartments. The beam spreads of the luminaires were studied to ensure no unnecessary light spillage but [would] also be effective in highlighting the historic details of the façades.”
Not only was photometric software used to aid in the evaluation of lighting specifications for the Arcade’s many sides, but once final choices were selected based on that data, on-site mock-ups of color-changing illumination were conducted. “Anti-glare louvers could have been added to the linear grazers, but ultimately were not needed,” added Laughead-Riese.
To illuminate the various sides and heights of the Arcade’s interconnected multi-story buildings, only a few types of fixtures were used throughout the project, with beam spreads, run lengths, and lumen outputs measured to emphasize architectural features such as cornices and terracotta arches. For example, the SSL Colorline Lazer Wet RGBW fixture was employed with 15-by-25-deg optics for two- and four-story façades while the same fixtures with 50-by-80-deg optics were used for one-story throws to avoid lighting resident windows. SSL Micro Flood lights with 9-deg optics were implemented for “long throws” on seven-story façades. “Derivatives of the fixtures with varying lumen outputs were used [throughout], essentially resulting in only three basic luminaire types used on the project,” explained Laughead-Riese.
A robust control system comprising SSL’s PDX boxes, Pharos Playback Controller and Touch Panel Station, and DMX cabling routed through the building where possible, grants the updated Arcade multicolored freedom. Pre-set and time-clocked themes run their course throughout the day and year. For example, as the project lighting was sponsored by AES Ohio, for one hour each day the project is awash in the electric utility company’s logo colors, which include Dark Lemon Lime, Dark Moss Green, Honolulu Blue, and Prussian Blue. But the Arcade can do more: display the colors of myriad holidays, city-specific celebrations, and anything else the project owners choose, as the controls system allows for 24/7 access via a smartphone app. “An extensive Lighting Controls Intent Narrative was crafted outlining the colors and where colors were to occur on the façades to tie the varied architecture of the buildings together for various scenes,” said Laughead-Riese. “This narrative was turned over to the DMX programmer to facilitate their work in setting up the Pharos controls system…For programming, the team was gathered to choreograph the colors programmed across the façades, ensuring façades with red brick and façades with limestone read with continuity. Team members were placed at each end of the block to review the scene settings as the programmer worked in the basement fine-tuning the settings with the team’s feedback.”
During the renovation process, the colorful project caught the attention of filmmakers from ThinkTV, resulting in the three-part docuseries The Dayton Arcade: Waking the Giant. The program covers the history and remaking of the Arcade and is currently available to watch on PBS and ThinkTV’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@ThinkTVPBS). “While the latest color-changing exterior lighting design wasn’t designed and installed until after the documentary was completed,” explained Laughead-Riese, “there’s a small clip in Part 2 of the documentary that is a glimpse of that initial meeting in 2019 that eventually led to the special sponsorship that funded the exterior lighting upgrade installed today, and continues to be a beacon in the ongoing revitalization of Dayton.”
The Design Team
Amy Laughead-Riese, Member IES, is president and principal lighting designer at 37 Volts Light Studio.
Dave Williams with Cross Street Patners of Dayton Arcade Management aided with the project’s renovation.
Garber Electric acted as the project’s electrical contractor.
Premier Network Solutions, Inc., served as the project’s DMX programmer.
SSL Lighting was the project’s lighting manufacturer.
Villa Lighting acted as the project’s lighting distributor.