Created in the shell of a building from the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 1800 m2 AOM tells the story of Olympic Games from ancient Greece through their 1896 rebirth into the modern period. Arches and domes recall ancient stadia while curved rooms create a fluid path for visitors. Light and shade suffuse the experience, as in the Greek landscape, without being noticed. Fixtures are integrated into the architecture with carefully selected photometrics, providing smooth surface lighting in selected galleries, shadows and mystery in the Prologue, with directed lighting for a wide range of objects within the variety of display strategies.

There is no daylight available to the project, yet an omnipresent quality of light was a design priority, reliant on electric lighting, was a priority for architect and lighting designer. A wide variety of architectural coves conceal fixtures, developing a language that at times provides a gentle gradient on an architectural surface, in other spaces provides a decorative glow and in others visually separates one architectural surface from another. A variety of backlit diffuse panels display tailored lighting approaches. Larger panels are illuminated by linear grazers tracing the perimeter. In contrast, thin vertical lines of light in the “Olympic Athletes and Sports Hall” are directly illuminated by linear fixtures behind the center of the panel.

Along the curving hall in “Prologue” the perforated ceiling panels provide a dappled light similar to a tree canopy, accomplished with spots high above the panels and carefully selected beam angles and power. Small scale recessed narrow beam spots highlight the centrally displayed sculptures and costumes in the 2004 Gallery, the urn in “When, Where, How”, the case displayed artifacts in “Athens 1896”, and the podium mounted book in “Olympic Torch Relay”. Concealed minimal cross section linear fixtures illuminate densely displayed niches in “Olympic Athletes and Sports Hall”, and in the hall between “Ancient Olympia” and “Pioneers and Founders”, helping them stand out from the bare and expansive wall in which the niches are set.

“Timeline” is a relatively small space with the most dense display, the most dense light fixture layout, and with no directly visible fixtures. The display for each of the Olympic games occupies a thin vertical slice of wall, floor to ceiling, with displays side by side, wrapping the entire room. Backlit numerals of the year are on top, near the ceiling, below this is a poster illuminated by a concealed linear grazer, and below the poster is a display in a horizontal glass case illuminated by another concealed linear. The curvilinear top and bottom edge of the room are highlighted by a concealed ceiling cove and concealed fixture in the cabinetry toe-kick.