California University of Pennsylvania is located on 294 acres in the borough area of California, PA. In 2008, the University received funds to build a new Library for the institution. As part of the renovation, the plans included a 4-story parking structure and a 2^nd floor connected walkway to the Manderino Library for easy access and to protect students from the severe weather conditions during the winter months.

At the time of the selection process, LED parking structure products on the market produced high levels of glare and poor min-to-max uniformity ratios at low mounting heights. The challenge at hand was to select a luminaire that would be visually inviting while controlling energy consumption for the 24/7 operating facility.  The Engineer and Architect design teams selected Philips Wide-Lite VizorLED for its glare control, energy efficiency, performance, longevity and dimming capabilities. Additionally, VizorLED’s vertical footcandle ratios impressed the design team during the mock up phase and was stated as the best unit for facial recognition compared to the other LED products on the market. The University installed 135 VizorLED units, configured with dimming drivers and occupancy sensors. The energy saving solution allowed the units to drop to 50% illumination during unoccupied periods and back up to 100% once vehicles or pedestrians entered the space.

For the upper deck install, the design team was challenged to specify a luminaire that would meet stringent design criteria: even illumination, control of light pollution & light spill onto adjacent properties while maintaining the required footcandle levels for safety and security. The solution. Philips Wide-Lite Optra series. The Optra series combines the optimal efficiency of a vertical lamp with its unique inverse conical lens to provide IES full cutoff compliance, as well as producing unsurpassed vertical and horizontal photometric performance. The Optra units were installed at low mounting heights in the center of the upper deck to avoid light spill. Optra’s wide distribution provided adequate footcandle levels to meet lighting codes.

In addition to the upper deck, Philips Wide-Lite Optra series also illuminated the site and pedestrian areas leading up to the parking structure.

“We initially selected LED fixtures for the energy savings and the WideLite VizorLED allowed us to achieve those savings with a great looking fixture”

Chris Brown, MacLachlan Cornelius & Filoni Architects

California, Pennsylvania