~ The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries ~

Beautiful Lighting for Stained Glass Windows

Original Lighting from Fluorescent Tubes

The sash windows in the Parlour at Apothecaries Hall were a problem. They had long since ceased to be ’working windows’, having been obscured by brickwork outside from historical construction.

The attempt to restore some lighting functionality with a vertical array of fluorescent tubes was only partially successful; the light bulbs were subject to intermittent failure and access to replace them was tricky and somewhat hazardous.

Over time, their appearance had deteriorated to such an extent that they were detracting from the gracious ambience of the room.

An ambitious project to create new ‘stained glass’ windows was launched in 2020. Various artists were specially-commissioned to paint a selection of important—and colourful—medicinal plants on glass, sized to fill one of the twelve ‘panes’ that made up each window.

The lighting requirement was to generate a back-lit effect to these new ‘glass-artwork windows’ that would be realistically uniform across the whole glazed area and be absolutely of the best colour-rendering quality.

The finished lighting expanse for each window was huge—and could not be provided from a single sheet of material. To achieve the right effect, special light-distributing LED panels were carefully designed and crafted to coincide with the framework up and across each of the windows. This arrangement, along with the addition of diffuser panels, concealed any join lines between the light panels and a completely smooth light distribution was achieved.

All the different elements were set within bespoke retaining frames—which themselves had to be site-adjustable to accommodate the size variations between the two window frames—such is the way with old buildings!

The carefully tailored back-lighting succeeded in replicating natural daylight. The colourful detail of the medicinal plants depicted in the glass panels was beautifully enhanced too.

“It’s been a super project, and has added to the many beautiful changes your team have facilitated here at the Hall.”