Encompassing two city blocks, the Center is a stunning architectural achievement designed by University of Illinois alumnus Max Abramovitz. Krannert Center has four main venues opening onto a 25,000-square-foot gleaming teak-floored lobby. The lobby serves as a public square for the University and the extended community, not only before and after over 350 performances each year, but every day and night – for dining, shopping for gifts in the Promenade, studying, meetings, conferences, parties, exhibits, and for performances in the lobby itself. Krannert Center’s lobby is physically, ideologically, and purposefully central to its existence. The existing lighting consists of recessed square downlights, each operating a 150W incandescent lamp, above an architecturally significant ceiling, and using glare-controlling recessed baffles. The current fixtures are original to the lobby. Recent technological advancements in the lighting field have rendered our present lobby lighting system comparatively energy-inefficient, labor intensive, and wastefully expensive, particularly as our lobby is open to the public and lit 17 hours per day, 360 days per year.

Installation of LED lighting in Krannert Center’s lobby will result in annual savings of ~$70,000; this includes energy savings plus reduced maintenance costs for re-lamping. The installed LEDs will be networked and programmable, allowing staff to increase lighting colors and intensities, creating new aesthetic ambient opportunities for events at the Center. Additional benefits include the long lifetime of the bulbs, acclaim for the Center and University for pioneering such an installation, and therefore, greater public awareness of the environmental friendliness of LED lighting. The approximate total cost for this project will be $450,000, including $325,000 for materials, $45,000 for labor, $35,000 for engineering, and $45,000 for contingency.