The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Library and Information Centre (LIC) in Burlington House, London, was remodelled, restoring its Italianate style, lowering a coffered ceiling and retaining a stained glass window. The library holds books dating from 1505, manuscripts of famous chemists, prints from 1538 onwards and important archives. One of the main challenges in lighting the library was the need to minimise the exposure of the older books to light without detracting from the interior created by conservation architect Julian Harrap.

The oldest books were moved to darker alcoves at the top of the library where the T5 fluorescent lighting is turned on by push buttons rather than coming on automatically with the rest of the lighting.

In addition to housing books, the main room of the library is used for lectures and videoconferencing. The general lighting had to cater for these uses without interfering with the architecture or the fabric of the listed building.

Rather than using bolt-on theatrical lighting, downlighting is used throughout the coffered area, which now includes a bridge between parts of the building.

This not only saves on running costs but also produces the general, shadow-free glow needed for video-conferencing. It also removes shadows from below the bridge.

LED uplights on the columns around the edge of the main space add to the appearance of depth at its edges but they also reduce the cave effect created by an earlier scheme. Alcoves around the room are used as meeting areas. Their lighting can be dimmed centrally when presentations take place.

Standard fittings were adapted so that they could be adjusted to suit variations in ceiling height throughout each of the spaces. Lighting was used to emphasise architectural features, for instance by playing a narrow-beam on columns, Compact fluorescent lamps were used wherever possible, supplemented by LED uplighting, to save energy.