Great Minds + USAI – Maximizing with Small

For Great Minds, a groundbreaking education organization, designer Diana Ades of Gwen Grossman Lighting Design (GGLD) and her colleagues maximized the potential of USAI
Lighting’s smallest lights.

When approaching the lighting design for the new Great Minds office in Washington, D.C., Associate Principal Diana Ades of Gwen Grossman Lighting Design sought to match the spirit of the company – a forward-thinking non-profit known for advancing education access through high-quality K-12 curricula for students across the country. The new offices in the DC area aimed to exemplify their company values by igniting curiosity through sophisticated design and innovation. Even when it came to lighting, the owner of Great Minds was eager to push the envelope– asking Ades, “What’s new?”
Ades’s answer was USAI Lighting’s the LittleOnes®, a groundbreaking family of powerful, minuscule fixtures.
“When we received a sample case, we realized we could go much smaller than ever before with then LittleOnes 1” aperture—while still delivering all the light we needed,” Ades explains.

The broad scope and flexibility of the LittleOnes® family made it a comprehensive lighting solution for the varied requirements of the minimalist Great Minds office. In circulation areas, often-used corridors had to be clearly lit for everyday use by employees. The lighting design also had to account for the collaborative work ethic of the company, allowing for larger team meetings and smaller collaborations with worklight-style downlighting and versatile light levels in conference rooms and workspaces.
Artifacts and colorful paintings adorn the central areas and walls, reflecting the company’s emphasis on knowledge and childhood development.
“All the artifacts and the art really pop in the space. USAI Lighting 3000K Classic White® color temperature played a big role in making that happen, according to Ades.

Challenges And Solutions: Versatility Lighting with Wall Wash

With adjustable fixtures and a wide range of products, the LittleOnes family was the perfect solution for uncertain decor elements, such as art pieces. “We used the LittleOnes Zepto 1” wall wash where we weren’t sure where the artwork was going to go. The plan was to cover ourselves with the versatility to either light the artwork or provide a nice vertical illumination on the walls as back up,” says Ades.
Working with, not against, these unknown quantities, the LittleOnes allowed Ades’s lighting design to be as expansive as the Great Minds mission. “Our products are powerful enough for both general illumination and precise enough for accent lighting. The Great Minds project makes the most of their versatility,” said Bonnie Littman, CEO of USAI Lighting.

General Illumination from a 1” Aperture:

Reception: The centerpiece of the Great Minds office is a real prehistoric fossil of a woolly rhinoceros head. Because the artifact was added to the space after the lighting was installed, using five USAI LittleOnes Micro Adjustables allowed for flexibility and full coverage of the fossil. “We essentially surrounded the area with light–not knowing exactly how large the object was going to be. It turned out to be a real fossil, and with five 1.25” adjustables, he looks good from every angle,” says Ades.

Circulation Areas and Narrow Corridors:

In working on the project, Ades and her team discovered that USAI’s LittleOnes could be used for general illumination, not just accent lighting or illuminating smaller spaces. “We ran calculations for the hallways, and including the adjustables, we found that it was more than enough light,” Ades says.

Image Courtesy of: Kate Thompson/ USAI

Conference Rooms:

In one conference room, six LittleOnes Zepto 1” downlights integrated into felt ACT tiles to provide balanced illumination— three on each side of a central pendant—perfect for both all
team meetings and screen presentations. In another, Zepto 1” downlights are installed along the perimeter to complement decorative pendants. These downlights deliver bright but comfortable 360° illumination of the circular conference table and surrounding space with advanced glare control, while the LittleOnes Micro 1.25” adjustable fixture draws attention to the artwork on the wall.

Collaborative Areas:

The unintrusive LittleOnes Zepto 1” downlights illuminate the seating areas for “collaboration spaces,” and fill in the surrounding area to create an inviting and open workspace while remaining distinct from the adjacent individual cubicles.
Quiet. Powerful. Minimal.

Kitchen: Throughout the space, using the LittleOnes Zepto 1” for downlighting made the concept of ultra-minimalism and powerful illumination a reality. When Ades saw the plan for the D.C. space and the downlights represented by dots, she realized she could actualize the vision. “I can do dots!” Using the Zeptos recessed LED downlights, Ades delivered on her promise.

Image Courtesy of: Kate Thompson/ USAI

Spaces with Decorative Lighting:

With final decisions on decorative fixtures still uncertain, the team opted to install the LittleOnes Zepto downlights to ensure adequate light levels. These tiny fixtures
provided the necessary illumination while remaining virtually invisible. The wide-ranging uses of the LittleOnes family of light fixtures was integral to the Great Minds project and achieving a minimalistic and collaborative vision for the space. By USAI Lighting’s innovations pushing the limits of size and performance, the LittleOnes help designers match the progressive spirit of their clients.

Feature Image Courtesy of: Kate Thompson/ USAI