The Challenge To achieve balance and a seamless look for high profile retail application. Lighting designers and owners wanted the space to look like it just happened without a great deal of thought or effort. The two-story 6,000 square foot store is located on the fashionable Bloor Street West. Easy, flexible control was extremely important since lighting needs change from hour to hour based on the amount of light entering the store through the 22-foot high front window and skylight. Display areas around the perimeter of the store are recessed into the walls.
Fluorescent lighting is hidden within each niche, so the entire wall is self-lighted.
In addition, each display niche has track lights tucked into ceiling coves that spotlight the merchandise. On the floor, displays and mannequins are spotlighted separately by recessed multi-head luminaires. The lighting design specifies that circulation areas are darker and not specifically lighted, so the emphasis remains on the displays, a feature easily accomplished with a lighting control system. When the full lighting plan was completed, there were about 24 zones of light on the main level and another 12 zones on the second floor. Because the ambient light is so different from one area of the store to the next, Monato had the added challenge of figuring out how to make sure the article of clothing's hue remained the same as a customer walked from a display to a mirror or the dressing room.