Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

Our project is a civic building and public plaza over which the State and American flags are required to be flown. In addition, the public plaza includes an Art in Public Places installation that may require a diffused uplighting element. As a City Council approved civic art program, the Art in Public Places component is often an integral part of the overall project design. The art installation consists of twenty-eight flat, round \'moons\' installed in the exterior plaza at ground level - flush with the walking surface. The artist proposes that one of the twenty-eight moons be lit each night according to the actual phase of the moon. Power for the moons will be captured by a large photovoltaic array, and temporarily stored in a bank of batteries. It is the artist\'s intention that this be both a poetic piece of public art and a demonstration project for alternative, sustainable sources of power. Sustainable Sites Credit 8: Light Pollution Reduction states that the design prevent any direct-beam illumination from leaving the building site. This requirement precludes the use of uplighting that is not captured via the building geometry for elements such as landscape and building lighting thereby eliminating the possibility of the art installation and the lighting of the flagpoles. Our experience is that specialty purpose or limited purpose lighting applications are often exempt from code compliance. Some examples of these exemptions are as follows: - ASHRAE paragraph 9.3.1(a) states "Display or accent lighting that is an essential element for the function performed in galleries, museums, and monuments.\' - ASHRAE paragraph 9.3.1(m) states "Lighting for theatrical purposes, including performance, stage, and film and video production." These exemptions include specialty lighting of components which, by their very essence, require uplighting. Examples include the following: 1. Lighting of the United States or other government flags (when flown in conjunction with the United States flag) flown at night, in accordance with US Flag Code/etiquette. 2. Lighting of some types of art, such as statuary and monuments that are otherwise located some distance away from structure. 3. Lighting that is an integral part of a work of art. It is our interpretation that flagpole lighting (for the American and State flags only) and integral artwork lighting should be exempt from this LEED requirement that no direct lumens leave the building site. Would this interpretation meet the intent of the LEED point?