Sekura
A Workspace Designed with Well-being in Mind
Location
Mexico City, Mexico
Lighting Designer
Luz en ArquitecturaArchitect
SPACE ArchitecturePhotography
Courtesy SPACE Architecture
Lighting environments can improve the well-being, productivity, and satisfaction of people in a space. Thought-leading architect Juan Carlos Baumgartner and renowned designer Kai Diederichsen teamed up to create a high-performance space that would foster creativity, productivity, and employee satisfaction.
“One of the things I love about this design is that it creates areas that feel different within the larger office space. We crafted these unique environments using different intensities and qualities of light and distinct materials,” explains Diederichsen.
The new office space for the financial services firm, Sekura, occupies two commercial floors above a new shopping center in Mexico City. The glass façade bathed the interior in daylight and the design team needed a lighting system that could balance the presence of natural light and artificial light in the space. The system needed to be installed and functional quickly, allowing the team to remain on-schedule and within the limits of a tight budget.
The designer chose Lutron to deliver a high-performance lighting control solution that would perform as advertised.
“At then end of the day, with each specification we are putting a little of our reputation and our client’s trust on the line. That’s why we must be very careful with the brands and products we specify. For this project, we chose Lutron.”
Juan Carlos Buamgartner
Founder and CEO, SPACE Architecture
SPACE architecture knew they wanted to do more than provide a beautiful office. Baumgartner explains, “My firm has been focused for many years on the concept of neuroarchitecture and we wanted to apply some of the latest scientific findings to this design. The idea of this project was to create a high-performance office space that would also improve the well-being of Sekura employees. This is the challenge of all projects.”
Daylight is an important ingredient in high-performance, healthy interiors. At Sekura, the glass façades made ample natural light available and the open interior was designed to drive the daylight deeper into the floorplan. Coordinating the overhead light levels with the available natural light provided a balanced and comfortable visual environment that also saved energy.
This level of performance required a cutting-edge lighting and lighting control system. “I needed luminaires that could modify the amount of light they produce. I needed sensors that could detect the amount of light in the space and sensors that could detect if the space was occupied or empty. Then I needed this combination of sensors to control the luminaires. Lutron is very good at this integration,” says Baumgartner.
“For the lighting control on this project, we chose a Lutron product called Vive,” says Diederichsen, “I love working with Lutron because they guarantee that the system will work.”
Vive is a wireless lighting control solution comprised of daylight sensors, occupancy sensors, and wall controls. The system can control a wide variety of lighting fixtures—from 2' x 4' troffers to the special linear and other high-end fixtures located throughout the Sekura offices. Lights controlled by Vive can be programmed to change based on the time of the day, automatically respond to environmental triggers like the presence of daylight or occupancy, or be manually modified at local keypads or through the Vive app, which can be downloaded onto a smart device.
The flexibility of the lighting system was important in achieving the overall design objectives of the space. “The conditions on each façade are distinct and dynamic—sometimes its sunny, sometimes its cloudy—and the artificial light system must adapt to those changes. Sometimes we don’t need artificial light at all and the entire space is illuminated with natural light,” explains Diederichsen.
The team was under tremendous time and budgetary constraints, which meant that they needed a lighting solution that would work correctly, without issues. “When working on a project that has pressures related to cost and timing, you can’t be silly trying solutions with different components that may or may not work together. We liked that Lutron was the one-stop shop,” says Baumgartner.
According to Diederichsen, Lutron has earned a reputation for reliability and quality. “Lutron products are proven, and I let my clients know this. I want my client to have the peace of mind to know that they are buying and installing a product that will work. The controls will dim correctly and turn the lights on and off as programmed. It’s really important,” he says. The wireless nature of the Vive solution also provided many time and cost-saving benefits to the project. Installation was faster and more straightforward than wired lighting systems that require all the components to be hardwired to one another.
With Vive, the Sekura office interiors turn on automatically in the morning and dim or turn off throughout the day when there is sufficient daylight in the space or when a room is empty. This help keeps the interior space comfortable and saves energy whenever possible.
“Working with Lutron has been very positive. The project was completed on time and under the original budget we had discussed. The lighting system does everything we wanted it to do and living with it day-to-day has been great. It has exceeded our expectations.”
Gonzalo Mancera Corcuera
General Director and CEO, Sekura
Gonzalo Mancera Corcuera, General Director and CEO at Sekura says, “Working with Lutron has been very positive. The project was completed on time and under the original budget we had discussed. The lighting system does everything we wanted it to do and living with it day-to-day has been great. It has exceeded our expectations.”
From Baumgarten’s perspective, client satisfaction is a key metric of success and so he makes sure that he knows how his clients feel about their project. “The clients are very satisfied with the result,” he says. “They have an office where the lighting levels change automatically based on available natural light and occupancy and the system is very easy to use.”
“At the end of the day,” Baumgarten continues, “when we make specifications, with each specification we are putting a little of our reputation and our client’s trust on the line. That’s why we must be very careful with the brands and products we specify. For this project, we chose Lutron.”
Looking to add simple, scalable, wireless control to your own retrofit and new construction projects? Vive is easy to specify, design, and install to meet your project goals, save time and money, and support code compliance. Let us show you how you can work smarter, not harder at lutron.com/vive.
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