SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 11, 2003) - AUERBACH POLLOCK FRIEDLANDER, Performing Arts/Media Facilities Planning and Design, San Francisco, New York, Minneapolis and Auerbach Glasow, Architectural Lighting Design and Consulting, announce the completion of their work on COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, in Napa, California.

COPIA, founded by Napa winemaker Robert Mondavi, is a cultural museum and educational center dedicated to exploring the distinctively American contribution to the character of wine, food and the arts. The 80,000 square foot center is located on a bend of the Napa River, and is surrounded by extensive culinary gardens.

AUERBACH POLLOCK FRIEDLANDER provided theatre consulting for the 280-seat presentation theatre, which is equipped for lectures, small, intimate performances and multi-media presentations. The firm also provided design and configuration for the 80-seat Meyer Food Forum, COPIA's cooking demonstration theatre, which is equipped for multi-media presentations and live video recording.

AUERBACH GLASOW designed the architectural lighting for most of COPIA's interior and exterior spaces. Interior areas included in the lighting design are the main entrance, the crescent lobby and mezzanine gallery, the theatre, the Meyer Food forum, and the Core Exhibition Gallery and Changing Exhibitions Gallery. Major points of interest in the exterior lighting design include vegetable and herb gardens, the River Concert Terrace fronting the Napa River, and an allee of poplar trees.

The AUERBACH POLLOCK FRIEDLANDER team included S. Leonard Auerbach, ASTC, President; Steve Pollock, ASTC, Principal Designer and Principal-in-Charge; Adam Shalleck, AIA, Senior Associate, Project Manager and Designer; Darrell Haber, Audio/Video Systems Designer.

The AUERBACH GLASOW team included S. Leonard Auerbach, IALD, LC, President; Larry French, IALD, LC, Principal Designer and Principal-in-Charge; and Susan Porter, LC, Associate, Project Manager and Designer.

The Design Architect is Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP, New York. The Architect of Record is Fong & Chan Architects, San Francisco. The Landscape Architect is Peter Walker & Partners, Berkeley, California.

FACT SHEET: AUERBACH GLASOW

INTERIOR LIGHTING

AUERBACH GLASOW worked closely with architect, Polshek Partnership, LLP to develop a lighting palette that is sensitive to the architecture. The lighting is multi-layered, highly complementary to the architecture and flexible to meet the demands of COPIA's fast-changing events and arts programs.

Noteworthy interior rooms in the lighting design include the main entrance, the crescent lobby and mezzanine gallery, the theatre, the Food Forum, and the Core and Changing Exhibition galleries.

Main Entrance

Visitors are greeted at the main entrance by a wall inscription that is dramatically uplighted from in-grade floor fixtures as well as highlighted from accent lights on a suspended low voltage rail. The rail appears to float through the main entry and into the crescent lobby over the information desk that connects the two spaces.

Crescent Lobby and Mezzanine Gallery

The crescent lobby is a grand glass-enclosed two story space. It features a second floor mezzanine gallery with a sweeping view of the River Concert Terrace and the Napa River. The multifunctional spaces are used as art display areas and for special events.

• The hierarchy of lighting layers begins with general ambient illumination. Art lighting and decorative elements add sparkle to the overall composition. The expressed lighting elements are restrained so they don't distract from the artwork.
  
  
• The downlights and monopoint art accent lights are integrated with the mechanical elements in linear architectural ceiling slots that organize all ceiling elements. The downlighting is soft and broad. Art lighting locations are distributed throughout the ceiling to punctuate specialty pieces.
  
  
• A minimal, decorative wall-mounted continuous low voltage rail system provides flexible art lighting system at the lobby and mezzanine walls.
  
  
• Track concealed within an architectural reveal follows the edge of the mezzanine floor to provide flexibility in highlighting objects at both the curtain wall and the main floor.
  
  
• Suspended low voltage lighting rails accentuate the architectural forms by floating in elegant curves above the information desk and the stairs connecting the first and second levels.
  
  

• Curtain wall armatures and spotlights with glowing frosted glass diffusers are functional and decorative elements that add sparkle to the overall composition.
  

• Truss mounted quartz downlights provide ambient lighting and washes the walls with a soft scallop.
  
  
• Small low voltage lights attached to the trusses provide a subtle accent on the balcony box fronts, adding spatial dimension.
  
  
• Monopoint stage spotlights are mounted between floating curved acoustical reflectors.
  
  

• Low level steplights located discreetly along the egress path provide visual cues for the exits.
  

• The architect's desire to express a portion of the downlighting was accomplished with a low voltage monopoint accent light that has a modified pendant stem.
  
  
• The low voltage cove at the perimeter accentuates the separation between the ceiling and wall, creating the illusion that the ceiling floats.
  
  

• The clamp-on theatrical PAR cans are used for downlights in keeping with the same vocabulary as the exposed theatrical ellipsoidals and cameras.
  

• Trellises centered in the garden squares hide low voltage downlights that light the outdoor "rooms" in the distant garden.
  
  
• The restaurant terrace overlooking the gardens sparkles with festive cable lights strung through olive trees, reminiscent of European outdoor festivals.
  
  
• Low level glowing steplights in the stone walls mark the pathways that connect the garden squares.
  
  

• Visitors are invited to the second level terrace from the garden with a grand stair simply and elegantly illuminated from the center handrail.
  

• Miniature glowing bollards light the olive tree canopies and help mark the River Concert Terrace boundary. Uplights graze the stage wall.
  
  
• Tree clusters on opposite sides of the River Concert Terrace are uplighted.
  
  

• The glow through the crescent lobby window wall is a backdrop that complements the nighttime scene but doesn't compete with the landscape lighting elements.