A Beacon of Hope

This year’s runner-up in the low carbon section of the UK Lighting Design Awards sponsored by ETAP lighting was the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford, south east London.

The Stephen Lawrence Centre was designed by architects David Adjaye Associates fronted by one of the UK’s most prominent architects, David Adjaye. The lighting was designed by Faber Maunsell Ltd, now renamed as AECOM Ltd as of the 5th May. The Lighting Design Director at AECOM is Martin Valentine.

This unique development was completed and opened in February 2008 which marked the 10th Anniversary of the founding of The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and the 15th Anniversary of the tragic death of Stephen Lawrence.

The Stephen Lawrence Centre, which was commissioned by the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, commemorates and celebrates the life of Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racist attack at the age of 18 before he could start studying for a career in architecture.

The centre, which is located in one of London’s more deprived boroughs, is designed as a place for community learning and social research and as a hub where industry, community and educational organisations can exchange information about the latest skills and needs in urban design, architecture, engineering and regeneration. One of the remits of the Centre and the Stephen Lawrence Trust is to provide support for those wishing to train as architects and built environment professionals who may not normally have the chance to do so. This includes the promotion of a greater understanding of key core skills for the construction industry such as maths, science and engineering. All of these skills are vital for a workforce that is able to deliver this country’s sustainability and regeneration targets both now and in the future. Unfortunately it is often in these subjects in which many young people currently fail, especially according to statistics, those from the Afro-Caribbean community, who represent a large part of the demographic of the local area. The goals of the Centre as a focal point for skills training for the built environment is summarised below in the words of Sarah Ebanja who is Chair of the Stephen Lawrence Trust: “Our focus on architecture and the built environment is deliberate. First, the skills involved can be acquired in many different ways, both academic and work based, so young people can choose the learning methods most appropriate for them.

Second, working on the built environment can integrate and enhance communities, especially when community members are involved in design and development.

Conversely, helping to build green sustainable urban communities is a powerful way for individuals to build their self-esteem.”
Since the Stephen Lawrence Trust was founded it has provided support and bursaries to many young people to help them train in the field of built environment design, this has meant that many young people who would not have otherwise had the means to train in these areas, now have a foothold in sustainable careers.

The design for the Stephen Lawrence Centre has delivered a successful piece of architecture which houses mentoring rooms, flexible education studios, computer learning resources and meeting spaces. It also offers business development suites for young entrepreneurs, as well as a state-of-the-art creative arts laboratory with multi-media design and digital studio facilities. The Centre regularly hosts exhibitions, seminars and artistic events exploring best practice in all forms of design for the built environment.

In tune with the Centre’s ethos, the lighting design skilfully integrates the use of natural and low energy artificial lighting, thus helping to maximise resource and energy use. An understanding of sunlight is used to help define the facade and character of the building with ephemeral shadow effects created from the play of sunlight through the etched glass designed by artist Chris Ofili. Each area of the building uses light in a unique way to create specific and distinct environments.

Daylight is used to offset the need for artificial lighting when it is not required via daylight linking controls on luminaires in all workspaces. Extensive use is also made of natural light through windows, skylights and clerestory windows. External mesh brise soleil panels also diffuse sunlight in the classrooms and offices, whilst the entrance hall allows sunlight to penetrate fully. An important point to note is that despite budgetary constraints, daylight linking controls remained part of the design. Unfortunately they are often removed from schemes during ‘value engineering’ exercises.

Overall the building’s designed lighting load is low and averages less than 5W/m2 for the entire building. This is about one third of that for many similar buildings and means that it is potentially able to provide significant CO2 savings. At maximum output the classrooms and workspaces draw about 10.5W/m2 which is again low for these types of spaces.

Despite its origins in a tragic and negative event, the Stephen Lawrence Centre represents a beacon of hope and focal point for action towards a more positive future. Hopefully both the activities undertaken in the building and inspiration from the building and the Trust themselves will help to provide a base for a better understanding and delivery of a more sustainable holistic environment and better designs for our built environment.

• For further details about the Stephen Lawrence Centre contact Martin Valentine at AECOM: www.aecom.com
martin.valentine@aecom.com or information@stephenlawrence.org.uk