MIT’s Great Dome Reborn with Lumenpulse LED Lighting Technology

The iconic Great Dome at MIT’s Building 10 has been reborn with a new lighting design featuring LED fixtures from Lumenpulse.

Designed by Boston-based design firm Sladen Feinstein Integrated Lighting Inc., the new lighting scheme has for the first time revealed the full grandeur of the dome – including the recently reopened oculus – and turned the reading room into a modern, 24-hour space for students.

“Lighting the dome emphasized the architecture in the height of the building and the depth of the coffers. It highlights its beauty and adds new life to the space,” said Julie Rose, Senior Lighting Designer at Sladen Feinstein.  

To light the dome and increase ambient light, the firm used Lumenpulse’s Lumenfacade fixtures, hiding the luminaires on a shelf space behind the dome’s acanthus detail. The fixtures were placed in the middle of the shelf to graze up the length of the dome. They were then meticulously aimed, ensuring that the depth of the shadows on each coffer matched perfectly.

“The Lumenfacades are fantastic. The fixture is beautifully even and uniform; there are no hotspots, and the light travels the whole height of the Dome. It was the perfect fixture for distribution and intensity," Rose said, explaining the impact the lighting design has had on the reading room. “It was always an interesting space architecturally, but now you walk in and look around and you think, wow! This is a really beautiful space,” she said.

“Participating in the restoration of such an iconic building, at an institution like MIT, is a real honor, and it’s a source of pride for a tech company like Lumenpulse,” said Greg Campbell, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Engineering at Lumenpulse. “Given the multi-purpose needs of the reading room, and the height and accessibility challenges involved in lighting such a space, it really illustrates the flexibility and power of Lumenpulse LED luminaires,” he said.

The Great Dome has been a landmark building on the MIT campus since 1916. The dome’s oculus, a 27-foot skylight, was reopened this year as part of a six-year renovation and restoration project, which sought to restore the building’s original design features.