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The main aim of museum lighting is to promote enjoyment of the work of art and at the same time protect it from the damage that light radiation can cause to more sensitive materials like clay and paint. Enjoyment of the work calls for expert lighting, understanding and correctly interpreting the relationship between the works and light.

Lighting specialists BAP Technology Consultants have plenty of experience doing just that. The firm recently collaborated with Chroma33 Architectural Lighting Design Inc to install a lighting control system for the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

Founded in 2004, the museum first opened to the public at the Murray House building in Stanley. Overtime it gained a reputation as a place full of exquisite artifacts and thoughtprovoking exhibitions. This year, the museum opened its new location at Central Ferry Pier 8 in the heart of Victoria Harbour.

The 4400sq m museum features two separate galleries – the ancient gallery and the modern gallery. They each showcase over 500 items including models of new and old ships, paintings, interactive displays, ceramics, trade goods and shipping documents. The galleries required a system that IN THE BEST LIGHT offered different lighting effects to enhance the exhibits, while reducing or eliminating harmful ultra violet radiation, and respecting the colour quality of the work. To do this, BAP chose Lutron’s HomeWorks 8 Series preset lighting control system. This easy-to-use system can handle various lighting sources and loads, and maintain a sleek, clean design that does not detract from the artworks. It allows ‘preset scenes’, which are easily modified without the need for major technical work.

Aside from keeping the exhibits’ colours real and providing special lighting effects, the dimming technology is highly energy efficient, bringing both cost and environment benefits. For instance, if the lights are dimmed by 10%, a reduction that is hardly visible, electricity consumption also falls by 10%. Dimming light sources also has the effect of doubling their lifetime, which in turn reduces maintenance costs and effectively doubles lamp life. For more information about BAP Technology Consultants Ltd and its products, visit www.bap.com.hk