The design choices that allowed Lumen Detroit to thrive and revitalize a faded downtown neighborhood, allowed the restaurant to stay open during much of the COVID-19 crisis. From its conception, the mission of the building was to be a part of a great public space, to be an architectural icon in the City and to encourage patrons to engage the surrounding area. Instrumental to achieving that goal was the ability to connect the building seamlessly to the park, and neighborhood that encompasses it, by opening the walls, a dramatic effect accomplished by two extensive NanaWall sliding glass wall systems. This choice has since proved to be prescient during the Covid-19 crisis.
“The project goals,” relates Carin Whitney, Kieran Timberlake’s communications director, “included providing savannah-like views of the Chesapeake Bay and opening the interior fully for natural ventilation, and to give it a porch-like feel. The plan also called for trapping the radiant heat that forms in the cavity between layers, to provide thermal insulation when the exterior acrylic doors are in the closed position.