Photo: Scott Frances
Each bay of the louvered corners hosts individual fixtures that emit white as well as a full range of color-changing light for programmable scenes.
By Craig Causer
For more than 155 years, St. John’s University has looked to St. Vincent de Paul for its inspiration and vision. While the patron saint of charity was more familiar with candlelight than LEDs and advanced lighting controls, he advised, “Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances.”
As one of the largest educators of healthcare personnel in the New York metropolitan area for nearly a century, St. John’s is well-versed in schooling those striving to work in the service of others. Located adjacent to the campus’s Great Lawn, the new, 70,000-sq-ft St. Vincent Health Sciences Center provides a cutting-edge learning environment for students in the university’s Nursing, Radiologic Sciences, and Physician Assistant programs.
Photo: Laura Peters/CannonDesign
Large-lensed downlights and perimeter coves illuminate each individually controlled patient bay, while continuous linear lighting supplies the central workspace.
The facility is home to state-of-the-art simulation labs, teaching labs, classrooms, and faculty offices, with Assessment Flex Labs and Hi-Fidelity Simulation Centers comprising approximately 25% of the building’s assignable floor area. Students are provided with clinical skills training within “hospital” settings and are observed through one-way glass as well as remotely via audio-visual capture systems. Advanced Simulation Laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to support healthcare education training in a real-life clinical setting. To enhance this hands-on learning environment, multifunctional healthcare lighting and advanced controls systems have been installed to provide a realistic and immersive healthcare experience.
“This building provides students with the ability to learn in real-world simulation spaces,” said Kate St. Laurent, Lighting Studio lead at CannonDesign. “With healthcare-rated fixtures and functional lighting controls, students can immerse themselves in the real-world experience. Being able to adjust the lighting for simulated patient comfort and turning the lights on to full brightness for an emergency exam procedure is crucial to set students up for success.”
In the middle of the Health Sciences Center’s laboratories is a three-story, skylit study commons. To simplify maintenance, artificial lighting is delivered through an A.Light magnetic track system that encircles each opening across all three floors. This allows fixtures to be accessed, adjusted, and maintained from their installation level. To enhance the architectural features of the atrium, Vode cantilevered linear lights softly illuminate the wood paneling and signage, while recessed linear lights provide a gentle glow in the sawtooth skylight when natural daylight is absent.
The project prioritized environmental sustainability and occupant well-being. LEED Silver-certified and Net Zero-ready, the building features rooftop photovoltaic arrays and a geothermal heating system. Designed to maximize natural light, the sawtooth skylights help reduce overall lighting demand, and as a fully electric facility, the Health Sciences Center possesses a lighting power density of 0.56 watts per sq ft. In addition, multiple lighting control zones allow occupants to customize illumination based on their tasks and preferences.
“The project implemented 100% LED luminaires, and an Acuity nLight control system that ties back to the building management system,” St. Laurent added. “The contribution of the daylight from the sawtooth skylight is projected to save 22% of the electric load alone. As an all-electric building, keeping lighting power density lower than the already strict NYC ECC 2020 code was important for the overall building’s success.”
Magnetic track heads wrap all three atrium levels ensuring consistent illumination while providing easy maintenance and adjustability without lifts.
The stone façades of St. John Hall and St. Augustine Hall, which were built in the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, are some of the most prominent features on the St. John’s campus. The more traditional and stately stone stands in stark contrast to the neighboring modern and dynamic Health Sciences Center. As both the project’s architect and lighting designer, CannonDesign integrated the building into the existing historical and recreational heart of the campus while also positioning it as a unique focal point.
Due to its expansive exterior windows, the Health Sciences Center glows from within. As a result, CannonDesign employed corner lanterns to create a striking visual impact by contrasting interior and exterior elements. Multiple holiday scenes were programmed into the lighting control system, allowing for dynamic displays, while each frame can also be individually adjusted for unique, one-time scenes. Visible from various points across campus, the lanterns serve as a beacon, emphasizing the structure’s significance and innovation.
“The building’s location was both strategic and challenging,” St. Laurent said. “The northern façade faces the Great Lawn, and a more historical architectural style, [so] the lighting design is simpler here, with its illumination reliant primarily on light poles. The south façade is more bold, with planes of the façade washed in light, lit handrails, step lights and other details. And then the two lanterns, which are at the east and west ends of the building, are beacons that can be seen from almost all vantage points. These lanterns have individually addressable RGBW blades of light, [and] the client has the ability to change the lighting effects depending on the day to create engaging scenes that will engage all on the campus—not just the students who use the building regularly.”
THE DESIGNER | Kate St. Laurent, LC, IALD, is Lighting Studio lead at CannonDesign.
John Connley is a project designer, formerly at CannonDesign.
Barrett Newell, LC, IALD, is a project designer at Cannon Design.
Peijun Shi is a junior designer, formerly at CannonDesign.
