Banana Republic wanted dramatic lighting effects for its newest flagship store in Chicago. Lutron's GRAFIK 6000® lighting control system provided the special effects, energy efficiency, lamp life extension, and simple operation from a central control station that the store required.

Create a unique look for the flagship store that enhances its street appeal, is easy to use, reduces costs and alleviates pollution issues.

Requirements Project

When the Banana Republic wanted its new flagship store to really stand out in the busy Michigan Avenue district in Chicago, lighting designer Darrell Hawthorne selected Lutron's GRAFIK 6000® preset lighting control system to create dramatic, attention-grabbing lighting. GRAFIK 6000 let him balance all the lighting requirements: daytime display lighting, special effects, exterior lighting, and interface to the emergency lighting.

According to Hawthorne, lighting designer and principal of Architecture & Light, San Francisco, the GRAFIK 6000 system gave him the creativity and flexibility to meet Banana Republic's requirements. "Good lighting control adds a dimension of color and intensity to a store's design that's not normally available."

In the case of Banana Republic, the new store had four-story glass fronts that opened into the rest of the store. Store designers wanted one look for daytime and another for evening. In this complex lighting control system covering over 30,000 sq. ft., the GRAFIK 6000 system controls over 60 zones of lighting: 16 zones on three floors that showcase a skylight and stairway, plus exterior and emergency lighting all tied into the GRAFIK 6000 time clock. The system transitions automatically from normal lighting to the special effects in the evening to the exterior and security lighting at night, without any intervention required by employees.

For a retail firm like Banana Republic, one of the real advantages of the Lutron preset lighting control system is lamp life extension. This translates into major savings in maintenance as well as in light bulb purchases, which can add up to 3 million bulbs per year for a chain of retail stores. As an added bonus, environmental benefits include less packaging, less disposal, and reduced pollution from lower energy use.

According to Edie Dorris, operations manager for Banana Republic, the increase in lamp life for the areas of the store that are dimmed has been a huge benefit of the system. In areas of the store that are simply being switched, the amount of time and money spent on lamp replacements is cost-prohibitive. And the dimmed lamps are cooler in temperature which has had a positive effect on air conditioning costs, she said.

"Lutron's GRAFIK 6000 handled a complex lighting control plan superbly and paid for itself a year under normal payback time. It's a win-win situation for Banana Republic," said Hawthorne.