The Leaf at Assiniboine Park Conservancy

The Leaf is an indoor horticultural attraction at Assiniboine Park Conservancy in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Visitors get to experience four distinct biomes; the Hartley and Heather Richardson Tropical Biome, Mediterranean Biome, Babs Asper Display House, and the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden.

Salex was honoured to work on the lighting design with Mulvey & Banani Lighting. There were some unique challenges faced through this project. The Stanley LED Lighting product chosen had  an ultra-narrow 2.5 degree beam luminaire, one white light that produced 736,000 cd center luminosity and the other an RGB luminaire that produced 311,000 cd center luminosity. The light was directed to a specially selected reflective surface to produce predictable lighting without an IES file. To achieve this outcome, our team mocked the condition in a warehouse and measured the lighting effects on a grid, providing enough data for an AGI program.  After testing several reflective materials, the decision was made to use the Anolux-MIRO® Scattergloss by Anomet. The Anolux-MIRO® Scattergloss surface for the reflectors in the Assiniboine Leaf Biome provided soft, diffused total light reflection of 94%, with homogeneous and uniform reflected light without preferential direction and increased brightness at lower incident values, without glare. Selected for the scattergloss’ surface ability to provide soft and uniform illumination across a large area at a great distance, these reflectors help to showcase the natural beauty of the lush plant material. The specular embossed Anolux® Hammertone surface of the reflectors in the Butterfly Garden provide bright diffused light reflection of 87%, with different angles of the embossed edges providing bright and diffused reflection simultaneously across the entire spectrum of light.  Selected for the hammertone’s ability to mimic the varying pattern of the sun, this surface enhances the wonders of the butterflies in their habitat. Viso Lighting manufactured the framework and assembled all the luminaires, LED drivers, and reflectors to insure an easy and seamless installation!

Check out the lights in action here.