The Grimaldi Building, the new headquarters of the charity The Royal National Institute of Blind People, has accessibility and inclusion at its heart – and its intuitive, individually controllable lighting scheme has been absolutely key.
Founded in 1868, the charity the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) will this year be celebrating its 157th anniversary and some 18 months of occupancy of its new headquarters, the Grimaldi Building, in London’s King’s Cross.
The charity’s previous headquarters had been in nearby Judd Street for more than two decades. But a combination of the space no longer working for staff, clients and volunteers and the rise of hybrid working in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic meant a smaller space was now wanted.
Therefore, in 2022, it was decided the charity would move to The Grimaldi Building, even though, as RNIB chief of staff and senior project manager Tricia Smikle recalled at November’s Light2Perform, it at that time looked more like an abandoned building than anything else. ‘So, lots of work needed to be done,’ she said.
Tricia spoke about the project at the SLL exhibition and conference and Lighting Journal caught up with Jean Hewitt, inclusive environments specialist at Buro Happold, the practice which led on the lighting design.
One advantage of The Grimaldi Building, originally designed by Allies and Morrison Architects, was that it was in a known location, in King’s Cross. This is of course especially important for people with sight loss, who may not want to navigate through an unfamiliar area. ‘Our customers, volunteers and staff were all familiar with the area, so we did not want to move too far away,’ Tricia said.
The fact the building is located along Pentonville Road, essentially in a straight line from King’s Cross Station, was another positive. The charity has even worked with Transport for London to ensure there is an announcement when buses arrive at the RNIB stop.
MAXIMISING ACUITY
The project was led on the architectural side by Kay Elliott Architects and by multi-disciplinary consultancy Buro Happold on accessibility and inclusive design, lighting, acoustics and asset consultancy and building services.
Jean Hewitt from the accessibility and inclusive environments team at Buro Happold had known Tricia already from work they had done together for Moorfields Eye Hospital. ‘She asked if I could come and look at the building and do an audit. One of the first observations I made was, “you might want to get the lighting looked at”. It was very bright and glary and for people with visual impairment that is an issue,’ Jean tells Lighting Journal.
‘We were then engaged on the project and the lighting team was brought in to have a look at it and come up with solutions. They did a series of trials, working collaboratively with our team. They worked mostly with people with sight loss – some 17% of RNIB’s staff are living with sight loss. They did a lot of user testing, over at least three or four days.
‘The team set up a workstation with different lights and you could adjust them to find out what worked best for people. Most people with sight loss found that a slightly bluer (colder) light was better in terms of maximising acuity.’
DEFINITION, CONTRAST AND WAYFINDING
As well as working for people with sight loss, the RNIB was keen the building should be the first in the UK to adopt the neurodiversity standard, BSI PAS 6463, for which Jean was technical author – see the article following this for more on that.
To arrive at a truly inclusive and accessible space for people with higher sensitivity to visual-spatial stimulation, the design needed to include around muted colours, clear wayfinding, clean layouts, to create a space that was easy to navigate.
Key principles therefore included having clearly defined working environments, such as collaborative and focus spaces with appropriate acoustics, as well as a keen focus on adjustability within the over desk lighting, again informed by the user trials. The aim throughout the building has been to ensure the different spaces are flexible for different needs of people with varying types of visual impairment and/or neurodivergent traits.
To that end, the lighting scheme prioritises enabling individual management and control of contrast levels and shadows, including manual and even granular control for users, with the aim of creating a comfortable working environment with minimal visual clutter.
Throughout, the scheme allows for the adjustment of colour temperature and intensity. There is a focus on adaptability, management of visual contrast and mitigation of flicker throughout.
Other considerations have included ensuring there is a transition where sensor lighting comes on gradually, clear signage and use of visual contrast on elements such as doors, fittings and desks to help blind and partially-sighted visitors, employees and volunteers to navigate the office safely and comfortably.
The building includes a range of innovative features, from toilet configuration changes to signage and wayfinding, with carefully selected colour schemes.
The building has ‘NaviLens’ app points that enable blind and partially sighted people to access and locate information and navigate the environment. By scanning the NaviLens code affixed to nearby surfaces with a mobile phone camera through the app, an audio description of the immediate area or the feature is given..
Acoustically, too, the building design reduces unwanted noise throughout. This includes 10 acoustic ‘rafts’ suspended above the reception desk, which have incremental light reflectance values to illustrate how visual contrast is measured, combining an essential feature with an educational element to inform visitors.
The building, which won an EG Award last year for its inclusive design, also has sensory planting outside, and internally there are zoned areas for quieter and collaborative work, as well as a serenity room for recovery from stress or sensory overload.
PROJECT CREDITS
Client: Royal National Institute of Blind People
Architect: Kay Elliott
Lighting and inclusive design, acoustics, MEP: Buro Happold
This is an abridged version of the article that appears in February’s edition of Lighting Journal. To read the whole article, simply click on the page-turner opposite.
Image: Buro Happold