Completed by Lam Principal Chris Stroik as STROIK Lighting Design, Bicentennial Hall is the oldest academic building at the Virginia Theological Seminary. The school recently sold one of three valuable stone panel carvings from the palace of the  an Assyrian king (circa 850 BCE), which garnered significant funds for the project.

The project’s main programmatic objective of enhancing historic, aesthetic, and functional aspects within this important campus treasure compelled the development of a non-invasive approach. Architectural and task illumination were achieved with indirect sources – uplighting the ornate ceiling and simultaneously providing task lighting. The lighting systems offer uniform horizontal illumination for flexible tasks, while also affording gentle accenting of vertical and ceiling surfaces – effectively extending, containing, and framing visual delight and utility within an absolutely unique room.