Known as the lighting manufacturer with the highest quality light and most accurate Natural Light, Ketra has nearly 10 years of experience illuminating spaces for leading brands and has now designed its own hub: Ketra HQ. The new HQ exemplifies how a lighting industry leader utilizes LED innovations and implements its parent company Lutron’s HXL philosophy: a holistic Human Centric Lighting approach that uses lighting to elevate the employee experience.
Leveraging its unique capabilities, Ketra created an environment with the capacity to evolve based on the time of day or employee preferences; to reflect Ketra culture by merging advanced technology with artistic elegance; and to foster innovation with a space where employees can build, test and showcase products.
To achieve this vision, Ketra focused on the following design components:
- Amplifying Natural Light: Natural light was the top request from all Ketra departments, and is provided through Ketra’s Natural Light setting. By recreating the color temperature and intensity of the sun, Ketra makes any space feel bathed in sunlight - amplifying light from the windows or bringing light into darker spaces to ensure access for all employees.
- Creating Personalized Workspaces: Employees can shift lighting to suit their needs, whether at their desk, in a conference room or an event space i.e. using bright white light for focused work or warm light to provide ambiance for a presentation.
- Maximizing Open Floor Plans: Ketra uses light as an integrator and mediator of spaces by creating distinct zones or “rooms” within the open office layout. Layers and zones of light divide areas for fluid yet functional spaces.
- Establishing Multi-Functional Spaces: Ketra HQ taps into the growing trend of multi-purpose spaces with custom scenes and layered lighting, with the capacity to create different environments within a space. Ketra can transform a brightly lit office into a warm cocktail environment – or an art gallery with a warm, inviting atmosphere and bright, focused art displays.
- Guiding & Inspiring with Light: Light guides the experience within Ketra HQ - whether using colored lights to designate vacant conference rooms; creating moods through lighting conditions or inspiring employees through dramatic design elements, like Ketra’s nearly 500 bulb stairway installation.
- Incorporating local flair: Embracing its Austin roots, Ketra commissioned local graffiti artist Aaron Darling for murals in Ketra HQ, which depict Austin culture, celebrating the city Ketra calls home.
Providing a resource for the local design community: Located within Ketra HQ, the Ketra Collaboration Studio will serve as a space and resource for the local design community and customers. The multi-functional area is a quarter of Ketra HQ’s total square footage and serves as a “work cafe” by day, where people can come learn about Ketra and Lutron’s offerings and plan projects. By night, the studio can easily transition to host events such as cocktail parties.
Photography by Jake Holt, courtesy of Ketra.
