CASE STUDY

CS101 Amsterdam Welcomes New Age in Museum Lighting Case Study ©2015 Lumileds Holding B.V. All rights reserved.

Amsterdam Welcomes

New Age in Museum

Lighting

New Rijksmuseum is largest gallery space

ever lit by LEDs

Choice of Philips LED lighting ensures beauty

and preservation for decades to come

Challenge

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the national museum and home to

master works of art from artists including Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh. It is one

of the largest museums in the world, spanning 9,500 square meters and showcasing

7,500 works from the Middle Ages to the present. As part of a top-to-bottom renovation,

the lighting was redesigned with an eye toward art preservation and achieving the

quality of light that would best enhance the viewer experience. The goal was to mimic

the color rendition of natural daylight throughout the museum, atrium, café and all other

public spaces using LED lighting. It also became important, as Philips worked with the

Rijksmuseum and other project partners, to optimize spotlights to bring out the unique

features of each work of art — a task best accomplished using LED lighting.

Solution

Artwork in galleries has traditionally been lit using halogen lighting. However, halogens

tend to be very good at rendering reds and yellows but less efficient at rendering blues

and greens. Halogen light also tends to become redder upon dimming. LEDs do not

suffer from these limitations.

On the artwork, the LED solution from Lumileds uses LUXEON S LEDs in warm white

(3000K) with very high color rendering index (95) to bring out all colors of the spectrum

— rendering the pinks, reds, ochres, yellows, greens and blues brilliantly. The LEDs

emit uniform light that is safe for the artwork and meets international criteria for the

conservation of art.

Suspended light racks from the original museum were upgraded by interior designers

Wilmotte & Associes in partnership with Philips, consultant Arup and engineering firm

Bronnenberg. To achieve a minimalist design on the racks, the Philips StyllD fixture was

Summary

Customized lighting by Philips proved

to be the right choice for the new

Rijksmuseum, a renovation project

driven by art preservation and viewer

connection. Highlights include:

LEDs with CRI of 95 deliver precise

rendering across the spectrum

from fixtures, minimizing damage

to artwork

via an iPad

compliant LED modules