How OLED Light is our Solution to the Winter Blues and Sunday Scaries – A Case Study

OVERVIEW

QCI Asset Management is a forward-facing financial services firm out of Pittsford, NY.  With over 40 years of helping their customers achieve financial goals, QCI has sustained success by investing in their people.  As they looked to grow into a new office space, it was important that it felt ‘state-of-the-art’ and ‘clean’. A high-tech, uncluttered look that reflects their focus on leading edge, disciplined practices.

“When we started thinking about the design of our new space, we knew we wanted a cool, modern look,” explained Ed Shill, President and CEO at QCI Asset Management, Inc., “but, I also wanted to be good to our employees and provide a healthy environment.  We had LED lights in our old office, but they were brutal – the glare, the potential harmful effects to your eyes.  We want happy employees and a space that fosters that mindset.”

RESEARCHING A HEALTHY LIGHTING APPROACH

As QCI set out to achieve their lighting goals with their new space, they knew they wanted to move away from LED.  Ed learned about OLED lighting through OLEDWorks and started researching.

“The price differential was pretty small when you compare OLED lighting to LED lighting, it practically rounds to zero” stated Shill. “And then when you learn about the health benefits of OLED lighting, it’s a no brainer. It’s better for our people who are spending their whole day in the office. They know that with our OLED lighting system, we are invested in them.”

Ed learned that because of their soft and diffuse light compared to the harsh glare of LED’s, OLED lighting emits the same spectrum of light as those commonly referred to as “Happy Lights”. These lights are regularly used to treat seasonal affective disorder, which happens to some people in the doom and gloom of the winter months when they have little exposure to the sun.  “The mood in the winter months, here in our New York office, was noticeably higher and I think our OLED lighting had something to do with it,” said Shill.

FINAL DESIGN & LAYOUT

The layout of the building includes offices along a north-facing wall that have substantial natural light. These offices have glass doors that lead to the central open office space, providing visible access to natural light. Other parts of the building are not as blessed with natural light, like the open office space, internal individual offices, and functional areas such as the copier room and coat area.  In these spaces, designers turned to artificial light for illumination that carries the clean feeling of natural light.

In the end, QCI chose a hybrid lighting approach, using OLED lights throughout the office and some LED lights to provide backlighting and color for a cool ambience.  OLED lighting also blends in seamlessly with the substantial natural light that shines through the office.  However, it’s been the OLED lighting designs that have stolen the show.  Due to the thinness of the material, they allow for dramatic designs that have transformed the QCI office. From the unique designs that can only be achieved with this thin, organic and flexible OLED material, to the clean, bright spaces, QCI’s new office space is a one-of-a-kind experience.

The OLED luminaires chosen are 4000K CCT to reinforce the bright and clean feeling. OLED solutions were used in energy efficient designs where lighting is close to the user. Acuity Brands´ Trilia floats in the conference room.

The Trilia lighting fixture illuminates the conference room

Their Canvis adds a playful element while providing most of the light in the president’s office. Visa Lighting’s Petal provides elegance in the conference room nooks. QCI installed 0-10V dimming capability which gives users light-level control to support productive, meetings and events.

The Canvis lighting gives this office a bright, playful vibe

Initially, the open office area had two long parallel runs of linear LED fixtures with both direct and indirect components. The contrast of LED light experience with the OLEDs in the executive space caused the owner to decide to convert this long run, as well as lighting in other offices (and even the coat room), to an energy efficient (>80LPW) OLED/LED hybrid solution.

QCI’s mix use of LED and OLED lighting

Replacing the long run CFD’s, Acuity Brands’ Olessence Slim uses LED as the uplight and OLED as the downlight – direct view component with an overall broader light distribution. The increased lighting efficiency is substantial, allowing the implementation of one hybrid run to replace the two original runs. With these changes, OLED is the primary illumination source at QCI, successfully meeting IES lighting standards.

LOOKING FORWARD

QCI’s new office space provides them the look and feel they desired to reflect the modern and cutting-edge company their customers have come to expect.  And their employees are happier and healthier for it.

“When our clients come into our office, they are amazed at the look of the lights and are drawn to the design and shapes that you can make with OLED lighting,” says Shill, “they are equally amazed that they can look right at them without squinting and when we tell them about the health benefits they get really excited.”

QCI has plans to expand further in their current space, by building out the basement floor.  They are also looking to expand the geographic coverage outside of NY.  “In any new space we go into, the first thing I’m going to do is rip out the lighting and replace with OLEDWorks lighting!” exclaimed Shill.

Check out more photos and info from the installation at QCI.

Contributors:

Luminaire Manufacturer: Acuity Brands, Visa Lighting

Contractor: Hamilton Stern Construction, LLC

Lighting Designer: Point Source Group, inc.

Installation Site: QCI Asset Management