SSL IN ACTION | Illuminated accent wall modernizes country club ambience
Located in the heart of northern Kentucky, Summit Hills Country Club is a private, member-owned country club dedicated to serving its members. Amenities include an 18-hole golf course, tennis and pickleball courts, a large swimming pool, and fine dining options in its clubhouse.
The clubhouse serves as a central meeting point for members, offering an open floorplan with formal dining room, ballroom, and bar areas for members to gather. The area extends outdoors to an additional porch and bar space — with both indoor and outdoor spaces enjoying unparalleled views of the club’s first-hole fairway.
Despite the brilliant exterior views, in 2021 members realized the interior needed a facelift and began a complete renovation of the clubhouse. Shutting down for a few months in the winter of 2021/22, the club project team replaced dated purple and teal carpets, bronze chandeliers, dark wood, and other decades-old elements with gray carpets, crystal chandeliers, and white woods and walls for a clean and updated look.
In addition to the aesthetic updates, members determined that the large open space could use a bit more functionality. To help create a clear separation between the bar area and the more formal dining and ballroom space, a wall was erected. However, a plain wall would not fit with the ambience of the new renovations.
Everything about the space was new and grand, so club management needed something that made a statement as members entered these areas, according to the Summit Hills Country Club building improvement committee.
The floor-to-ceiling wall featured entrances on both sides to divide the two rooms while maintaining easy access to both areas. For an additional element, artistic backlighting on both sides of the wall was suggested to create the unique look and feel members desired.
Joe Cooper, vice president from Cooper Electrical Sales (Cincinnati, Ohio), and Bill Sturm, Jr., project manager from Sturm Electric, Inc. (Florence, Ky.), quickly began investigating light sources — especially with a tight construction schedule and potential lighting supply-chain issues looming.
The lights had to cover both sides of the 8×20-ft walls, ensuring uniform illumination without dull, dim, or hot spots. Members also wanted the ability to easily control the range of white color from a soft yellow (2700K) to a bright white (6000K) to set the atmosphere appropriate for each and every special event.
Based on the criteria and available stock, Cooper recommended Trulux Canvas tunable LED sheets from American Lighting, based in Denver, Colo. Developed for backlighting semitransparent architectural features and countertops, Trulux Canvas 12×24-in. sheets can be cut to size at the job site to achieve the right fit for the application and lighting design plan. Built-in spacers help lift the material a half-inch off the light sheet for a leveled and diffused effect. Tunable-white output from 2700K to 6000K matched the country club’s criteria for delivering warm to cool illumination depending on events being held in the space. Each tunable light sheet produces up to 900 lm per square foot.
Once the light sheet was specified, the construction crew was concerned about installation. Although each LED sheet is equipped with 3M peel-and-stick backing with a 35-lb load rating (220 lb per sheet) for quick installation, the crew found a more secure way to install the lights while adding an innovative design element.
Light sheets were screwed to the plywood walls and then covered with a resin acrylic product, which gave the walls a decorative glass impression. Built-in terminal ports made power accessible from any side, which the installation crew agreed made the panels quite easy to install.
“When the wall was installed and lit, everyone was instantly amazed by the beauty of the new wall feature,” said Cooper. “Adding the functionality of dividing the spaces in a way that created such an upscaled aesthetic touch was just what the members wanted.”
Product Notebook
Product: CANVAS Light Sheet
Size/Form factor: 12x24 inch sheets
Luminous flux: Up to 2,050 lm output per sheet
CCT: 3000K/4000K/5000K
CRI: 90+
Wattage: 20W per sheet
Lifetime: 50,000 hours rated life, 5-year limited warranty
More specifications at americanlighting.com
See American Lighting training video on FacebookWatch
Get to know our expert
ALYSSA STONE is the electrical distribution national sales manager for American Lighting, a manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, located in Denver, Colo. With over 10 years of electrical and lighting experience, Stone brings a wealth of product knowledge and industry expertise to her clients after holding positions in technical support, lighting quotations, and inside and outside sales.
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Alyssa Stone
ALYSSA STONE is the electrical distribution national sales manager for American Lighting, a manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, located in Denver, Colo. With more than 10 years of electrical and lighting experience, Stone brings a wealth of product knowledge and industry expertise to her clients after holding positions in technical support, lighting quotations, and inside and outside sales.
