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Meyda Tiffany, a leading manufacturer of decorative
lighting, has installed what it claims to be the largest
LED chandelier in the world at the Stanley Center for
the Arts in Utica, New York. After nearly a year of
planning and construction at Meyda's facilities in
Yorkville, NY, the fixture was illuminated on Wednesday,
April 2.
Custom crafted of steel, blown-glass and acrylic, the
Stanley Chandelier is 35 feet in diameter, 17 feet tall,
and weighs 7,000 pounds.
The LEDs were supplied by ARAD, based in Utica, NY.
According to Tullio Dell Aquila, a total of 200
Luxeon K2 devices were used for the center section,
with 124 screw-in style E14 candelabra lamps for the
outer fixtures. "The E14 LED screw-in lamps in the
glass fire globes flicker to create a very realistic
flame effect. The other interesting thing about the
LED system incorporated into the fixture is that it
is AC dimmable, so that the lighting system in the
Stanley Theatre used to dim the house lights can
also dim the chandelier," he said.
The LEDs were carefully placed throughout the truss work
to eliminate any shadows or hot spots. "No optics were
used whatsoever," said Dell Aquila. "Meyda Tiffany
sanded the inside surfaces of the glass panels to act as
a diffuser, and the LEDs were typically two feet or
greater away from any glass surface in the fixture. My
concept was to spread the light as evenly as possible,
but also to aim the modules so that the light is not
only trapped within the fixture but is also reflected
upwards from the glass surfaces."
The fixture uses a total of 1,120 total watts (the
equivalent of energy used for one drip coffeemaker),
instead of conventional incandescent bulbs requiring
7,435 watts (energy equivalent of 17 refrigerators).
The fixture was assembled in several sections of
tubular steel trusses, plus a dozen sections of
other steel trusses, framework and decorative
embellishments.
The chandelier, hand-finished in Antique Gold and
Bronze, was designed to complement the theater’s
Mexican baroque Moorish theme. Each truss includes a
steel arm featuring a hand-painted green and white,
red glass-eyed serpent spiraling down.
At the tip of each arm is a bobeche (eight in all),
each with a diameter of 36 inches and designed to
hold seven candles, ranging up to two feet in
height. The bottom of each bobeche has been designed
with a red and blue acrylic to coordinate with the
nuances of the theater’s color scheme. Sculpted
steel candlesticks simulating wax drippings, feature
blown-glass diffusers replicating candletip flames.
The project also includes a Constant Tension Device
that lowers the chandelier from the ceiling so it
can be re-lamped, cleaned and maintained easily. The
chandelier’s interior includes a catwalk that cannot
be seen from below, but enables maintenance
personnel to walk around the fixture.
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