The Warm White 3k LED lamp is a revered color temperature. With all the comfort and warmth of a cozy campfire, it’s the comfort lighting we crave and ask for, specifically in our office work environment. Plus, everyone looks healthier basking under the glow of warm LEDs. And it’s important how we are perceived by others, right? Beauty over substance?

Let me risk banishment and go out on a limb by suggesting that a color temperature higher in the kelvin range — moving away from 3,000k and closer to 6,000k — is a better lighting solution for the workplace.

One of Chicago’s bedrock financial institutions wanted to add a contemporary feel to its headquarters lobby, while still maintaining a sense of strength and stability. See how CharterSills supported that goal through streamlined architectural lighting, in collaboration with architect Harley Ellis Devereaux. 

Very exciting stuff …

Just last year, LEDs were poised to take over the world. Legislation mandating efficiency drove incandescent bulbs from store shelves. Halogen bulbs were banished to the “specialty bulbs” section. Energy codes made it hard to use a screw base in a new luminaire.

I was driving home when an ad came over the radio asking me to avoid the pitfalls of the low-priced, no-talent, bad tattoo artist — to “Think before you ink.”

Now, I don’t have any tattoos. But I do have some friends who have awesome tattoos, as well as some who have not-so-awesome tattoos. What made
the difference?

We’re pleased to congratulate Gensler for their work on the Genevieve and Wayne Gratz Center at Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago. Last month, the building earned a 2015 Design Excellence Award from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Gensler, led by architect Brian Vitale, designed the Gratz Center—a five-story, 82,000 square foot addition—with a modern interpretation of the existing architecture, staying true to the original building’s legacy. 

Kohler Co. lives “on the edge of design and technology.”

So what an honor it was for our firm, CharterSills, to be brought on by Gensler to design the lighting scheme for a new building at Kohler’s global headquarters in the eponymously named town of Kohler, WI.